Effects of perceptual, cognitive, and social levels on the aesthetic appreciation of traditional cultural products

Aesthetic appreciation plays a significant role in the success of product design. In empirical aesthetics, previous studies exploring the factors that influence aesthetics mainly focused on one single level using product categories associated with modernization and mass-market consumption. However, aesthetic experience is multilevel and complex, which has been overlooked. Moreover, it remains unclear whether the same aesthetic processing applies to products from traditional culture. Based on the Unified Model of Aesthetics (UMA), this study aims to explore the effects of perceptual, cognitive, and social levels on aesthetic appreciation. To compare with previous studies, Chinese folding screens were used as stimuli, and 213 participants rated them on seven dimensions: unity, variety, typicality, novelty, connectedness, autonomy, and aesthetic pleasure. The results supported that aesthetic appreciation was optimally explained by the combined effect of multilevel aesthetic mechanisms rather than any single level. From the perspective of aesthetic evolutionary psychology, participants preferred aesthetic factors in terms of safety rather than accomplishment. Notably, the social level had the strongest positive influence on aesthetic appreciation, compared with the perceptual and cognitive levels, indicating that social significance shaped aesthetic responses more to culturally rooted products. The findings provide empirical evidence for the multilevel theoretical framework of aesthetic experience and new insights into the aesthetic appreciation of traditional cultural products.