Andrew J. Pekarik, Ph.D., retired in 2016 after spending 24 years at the Smithsonian Institution, designing and conducting studies of visitors to the Smithsonian’s exhibitions and museums. Interviewing people individually and intensively, investigating their preferences, attitudes, needs, and interior rationales, he observed that visitors’ approaches often did not accord with staff expectations.

Together with Professor James B. Schreiber and Smithsonian staffer Barbara Mogel, Dr. Pekarik codified these findings into a Theory of Experience Preference, which holds that people are drawn in varying degrees to four types of experience: Ideas, People, Objects, or Physicality. Awareness of these patterns can help create better outcomes across all audiences.