People are said to like that which they know. In other words, preference is assumed to increase with familiarity. At the same time, there is the expression that “familiarity breeds contempt,” suggesting that perhaps the relation between these two constructs is negative. One might know an area very well and not like it, and one might also like some settings that one had never seen before. Thus it would seem that there is truth to both positions. The effect of familiarity on preference has in fact been demonstrated to be complex, rather than necessarily positive or negative (Kaplan and Kaplan, 1982).

Cross-cultural studies provide an interesting opportunity to study these issues. Presumably, individuals from another culture would be less familiar with scenes taken in this country. While they may have been exposed to some visual images before, they are unlikely to have had the same degree of exposure as a group for whom such scenes are relatively local. One would expect, then, that the local preferences would be higher if familiarity has a positive influence and lower if preference is adversely affected by familiarity.

Several studies have examined visual preference in a cross-cultural context. Ulrich (1983) argues that such studies have shown more similarity than discrepancy in the perception and evaluation of the environment. Zube (1984) concludes that the similarity in cross-cultural evaluation is related to the similarity between the cultures.