PrepTest 86, Section 3, Question 16
A popular complaint about abstract expressionist paintings—that "a child could paint that"—holds that their stylistic similarities to young children's paintings show that they are no more aesthetically pleasing than those inexpert works. But most participants in a psychological study, when shown pairs of paintings consisting of an abstract expressionist painting and a preschooler's painting, consistently rated the abstract expressionist painting as aesthetically better, refuting this complaint and thereby establishing that abstract expressionist paintings are aesthetically pleasing.
A popular complaint about abstract expressionist paintings—that "a child could paint that"—holds that their stylistic similarities to young children's paintings show that they are no more aesthetically pleasing than those inexpert works. But most participants in a psychological study, when shown pairs of paintings consisting of an abstract expressionist painting and a preschooler's painting, consistently rated the abstract expressionist painting as aesthetically better, refuting this complaint and thereby establishing that abstract expressionist paintings are aesthetically pleasing.
A popular complaint about abstract expressionist paintings—that "a child could paint that"—holds that their stylistic similarities to young children's paintings show that they are no more aesthetically pleasing than those inexpert works. But most participants in a psychological study, when shown pairs of paintings consisting of an abstract expressionist painting and a preschooler's painting, consistently rated the abstract expressionist painting as aesthetically better, refuting this complaint and thereby establishing that abstract expressionist paintings are aesthetically pleasing.
A popular complaint about abstract expressionist paintings—that "a child could paint that"—holds that their stylistic similarities to young children's paintings show that they are no more aesthetically pleasing than those inexpert works. But most participants in a psychological study, when shown pairs of paintings consisting of an abstract expressionist painting and a preschooler's painting, consistently rated the abstract expressionist painting as aesthetically better, refuting this complaint and thereby establishing that abstract expressionist paintings are aesthetically pleasing.
The argument depends on assuming which one of the following?
People are better at judging the aesthetic value of a painting when they compare it with another painting.
Most of the preschoolers' paintings used in the study were not aesthetically displeasing.
Each painting shown to the participants had a label that accurately indicated whether it was an abstract expressionist painting or a preschooler's painting.
Participants who did not consistently rate the abstract expressionist paintings as aesthetically better nonetheless rated them better more often than not.
There were few stylistic similarities between the abstract expressionist paintings that participants were shown and the preschoolers' paintings with which they were paired.
Explanations
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