Your Taste Isn't as Personal as You Think
We often treat taste as a private matter. We like certain colors, collect particular objects, choose specific furniture, and reject styles that leave us cold. We may describe these choices as natural expressions of our personality. Yet our preferences rarely develop in isolation. Family, education, money, advertising, architecture, and social experience all influence what we recognize as beautiful. Even the things we call timeless or elegant often reflect values that we learned from other people. Consider a simple example. One person sees an antique wooden cabinet and thinks of warmth, history and craftsmanship. Another sees an outdated piece of furniture that belongs in a grandmother’s house. Neither response exists entirely within the object itself. Each person brings memories, expectations and cultural knowledge to the encounter. Our eyes register the cabinet, but our minds supply much of its meaning. Taste begins with personal experience, yet society helps us decide which experienc...
