Bigger is better!

Codispoti and de Cesarei (2007) demonstrated that larger IAPS images were rated as more emotionally arousing than smaller ones. However, size did not make a difference in the subjective assessment of emotional valence. Silvera, Josephs and Giesler (2002) observed a preference for larger stimuli in various experiments using abstract stimuli. The present study sought to determine whether size also makes a difference in the evaluation of art. Two experiments investigated the extent to which the size of everyday images and works of art in two different contexts (large and small) influences subjective emotional and aesthetic experience. The results showed that works of art are experienced as more positive compared to IAPS images, whilst the IAPS images are rated as more activating than the works of art. Similarly, the participants rated the larger stimuli as more emotionally activating than the smaller ones.