House style preference and meanings across taste cultures

Theorists have speculated that taste cultures differ in their design preferences. To test this, we interviewed 150 adults (30 representing each of the five taste cultures) in central Ohio. We obtained their responses to photographs of house exteriors representing 15 different styles. Did the taste cultures differ as predicted by the theorists? Not really. The results showed strong similarities in the responses across the groups. However, the similarities decreased as the educational/occupational distance between the groups increased. In findings echoing many other studies, we found strong similarities with highest preferences for the Tudor style, and highest friendliness score for the Farm style. Even for style, preference is not a matter of taste. Widely different groups show commonalities.