Righteous Adam, Sinister Eve

ABSTRACT

The symbolism of laterality in images implies that the virtuous figure is represented on the right of the scene whereas the sinful character is depicted on the left. In portraits of male and female characters this has reflected and reinforced stereotypes and inequalities down the ages. Given these premises, we hypothesized that the prototypical representations of Adam and Eve, as a man and a woman conflated with notions of virtue and vice, would show a non-random arrangement. We tested this hypothesis, sampling artistic depictions of the Garden of Eden, from the twelth century to the present day in three separately-collected series of 100, 99, and 142 images respectively. Eve is depicted to Adam’s left significantly more often than chance (between 70% and 83%), particularly in pre-1600 artworks. We interpret this asymmetry as reflecting the perceived lesser status of women in relation to men, since the allegorical incipit of humankind. We also provide experimental evidence that this asymmetry, although pervasive, has not been internalized by modern viewers. Cognitive sciences account for this spatial asymmetry in terms of preference for figures placed within the left visual field of the observer, i.e., within the right space of the objective scene.

KEYWORDS:

• Adam and eve
• side of characters
• pseudoneglect
• spatial asymmetry
• images

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Nan (Elva) Peng, who collected the data reported in Appendix 2 of the Supplementary Material and to Elinor Mason who read an earlier version of the manuscript. We are also grateful to Robert Couzin and another anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments and to Carol M Richardson and Patricia Allmer, art historians at the University of Edinburgh for their help in identifying suitable galleries database and for their insight into the interpretation of biblical symbolism.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The material used in this study and the experimental data that support its findings are fully available on the Open Science Framework at: https://osf.io/h98se/. Any further information relevant to the replication of the study will be made available upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.