Preference for Harmony: A Link Between Aesthetic Responses to Combinations of Colors and Musical Tones

Individual differences in the preference-for-harmony (PfH)-the tendency to prefer stimuli that represent "good gestalts"-have been found to be relatively consistent across domains of aesthetic judgment. In the present study, we built upon these findings by showing that PfH for color combinations is strongly associated with PfH for isolated musical chords. We also showed that ratings of the harmoniousness of chords are best predicted not by their objective harmonicity-the extent to which their constituent partials resemble a harmonic series-but rather, by their freedom from spectral interference and their familiarity. Additional analyses confirmed that individual differences in PfH are specifically pertinent to aesthetic judgments and not a product of a generalized desire to avoid ambiguity in cognitive processing (i.e., a need for closure). In summary, the results of the study suggest that PfH represents a relatively unique cross-modal influence on aesthetic responses, one that meaningfully contributes to preferences for musical chords.