Subjective and Objective Factors in Subjective Semantic Evaluations of Architectural Works

This research focuses on empirical explorations of psychological features and mechanisms of the perception of architectural space in professional architects; on the comparison of semantic evaluations and factors of the perception of architecture in professionals and non-professionals; and on the comparison of the perception and semantic evaluation of real architectural works and of photographs of these works, measured with techniques of personality and architectural semantic differential and the Value Spectrum technique. As it was revealed, the perception and semantic evaluation of architectural works differs in professional architects and non-professionals only when the perceived object is somewhat unusual, complex and does not correspond with conventional images, for example, like it is in constructivism. Also, it was found that value/semantic evaluation of architectural works as measured by the Value Spectrum technique provides more information about the process of perception and understanding of architecture when carried out in the real environment. At the same time, personality and architectural semantic differentials did not reveal any significant differences between the perception of the real object and its photograph, which suggests that these techniques can be employed for the study of the perception and semantic evaluation of architectural works using just photographs.

1. Artem’eva E.Yu. Vzaimoproektsii raznomodal’nykh se- mantik.[Inter projection of multi-modal semantics]. Tezisy VII Vsesoyuznogo simpoziuma po psiholingvistike i teorii kommunikasii [Abstracts of VII all-Union Symposium on psycholinguistics and theory of communication]. Moscow: Publ. MSU, 1982, pp. 88—89.
2. Artem’eva E.Yu. Psikhologiya sub”ektivnoi seman- tiki [Psychology subjective semantics]. Moscow: Publ. MSU, 1980. 128 p.
3. Artem’eva E.Yu. Osnovy psikhologii sub”ektivnoi se- mantiki [Fundamentals of psychology subjective semantics]. Moscow: Smysl, 1999. 350 p.
4. Vyrva A.Yu., Leont’ev D.A. Vozmozhnosti sub”ektivno- semanticheskikh metodov v issledovanii vospriyatiya arkhitek- tury [The possibilities of subjective semantic methods in the study of perception of architecture]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultutal-Historical Psychology], 2015. Vol.  11, no. 4, pp. 96—111. doi:10.17759/chp.2015110409 (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
5. Gabidulina S.E. Psikhologiya gorodskoi sredy [Psychol- ogy of the urban environment]. Moscow: Smysl, 2012. 152 p.
6. Gabidulina S.E. Psikhosemanticheskii podkhod k izucheniyu gorodskoi sredy [Psychosemantic approach to the study of the urban environment]. Gorodskaya sreda: b. materi- alov Vsesoyuznoi nauchnoi konferentsii v Suzdale [Urban envi- ronment: proceedings of all-Union scientific conference in Suz- dal]. Moscow, 1989. Ch. 2, pp. 42—51.
7. Gabidulina S.E., Kaulen M.E., Gurskaya N.G. Seman- ticheskaya otsenka inter’erov drevnerusskikh khramov [Se- mantic evaluation of the interiors of ancient temples]. Myshle- nie i sub”ektivnyi mir [Thinking and subjective world]. Jaroslavl’, 1991a., pp. 41—53.
8. Gabidulina S.E., Kaulen M.E., Gurskaya N.G. Oso- bennosti vospriyatiya drevnerusskoi arkhitektury [Peculiari- ties of the perception of ancient architecture]. Problemy istorii arkhitektury [Problems in the history of architecture]. Moscow, 1991b., pp. 108—111.
9. Del’skaya T.A., Nazarova M.D. Psikhologicheskii anal- iz vospriyatiya spektaklya [Psychological analysis of percep- tion of the performance]. Dorfman L.Ya. (ed.) Iskusstvo i emot- sii [Art and emotions]. Perm’: Permskii gosud. institut iskusstv i kul’tury, 1991, pp. 232—241.
10. Leont’ev D.A. Vvedenie v psikhologiyu iskusstva [In- troduction to the psychology of art]. Moscow: Publ. Mosk. Un-ta. 1998. 111 p.
11. Leont’ev D.A. Metodika tsennostnogo spektra i ee voz- mozhnosti v issledovanii sub”ektivnoi real’nosti [Methodology the valuable spectrum and its possibilities in the study of sub- jective reality]. Metody psikhologii. Ezhegodnik RPO [Methods of psychology. Yearbook RPS], 1997. Vol. 3. Vyp. 2. Rostov, pp. 163—166.
12. Leont’ev D.A. Sub”ektivno-semanticheskie osnovaniya otsenki i vybora knig massovogo sprosa [Subjective-semantic Foundation of the evaluation and selection of books of mass demand]. In Khanina I.B. (eds.) Psikhologiya sub”ektivnoi se- mantiki: Istoki i razvitie [Psychology of subjective semantics: the Origins and development]. Moscow: Smysl, 2011, pp. 216—232.
13. Leont’ev D.A., Zhukova E.F. Emotsional’naya i tsen- nostnaya semantika graficheskikh portretov i fotoportretov [Emotional and axiological semantics of graphic portraits and portraits]. In Khanina I.B. (eds.) Psikhologiya sub”ektivnoi se- mantiki: Istoki i razvitie [Psychology of subjective semantics: the Origins and development]. Moscow: Smysl, 2011, pp. 250—266.
14. Leont’ev D.A., Makarova-Mel’nikova A.V. Vospriyatie avangardnoi muzyki muzykal’no obrazovannymi i «naivnymi» slushatelyami [The perception of vanguard music musically educated and naive listeners]. In Ryzhov V.P., (ed.) Filosofiya cheloveka: materialy nauchnogo simpoziuma, posvyashchennogo pamyati filosofa i psikhologa Galiny Ivanchenko [The philoso- phy of man: proceedings of the scientific Symposium dedicated to the memory of philosopher and psychologist Galina Ivanchen- ko]. Taganrog: Publ. A.N. Stupina, 2013, pp. 140—154.
15. Sidorenko E.F. Metody matematicheskoi obrabotki v psikhologii [Methods of mathematical processing in psychol- ogy]. Sant Petersburg: Publ. Speech, 2003. 350 p.
16. Shmelev A.G. Semanticheskii kod i vozmozhnosti matrichnoi psikhodiagnostiki [Semantic code and matrix diagnostics]. Vestnik Mos. un-ta. Ser. 4. Psikhologiya [Bul- letin of Moscow University. Ser. 4. Psychology], 1990, no. 3, pp. 23—28.
17. Leontiev D., Lagoutina L. Individual and Professional Differences in the Perception of Dramatic Art. In Dorfman L. (eds.) Aesthetics and Innovation. Newcastle: Cambridge Schol- ars Publishing, 2007, pp. 241—256.