A - Accept
B - Back
◯ - Affirmation, correct, OK (Circles are commonly viewed as being a symbol for positivity, perfection, connection, and divinity across many cultures world wide.)
✕ - Refutation, wrong, NG (Similarly this symbol shares similar meanings across many cultures. It's used to portray death, poison, evil, in math it's the symbol of ambiguity or uncertainty. Wires are crossed, they are not connected.)
Especially in terms of why Sony chose those symbols they should conform to that placement as there is a greater chance that the symbolism would be understood world wide. Plus that placement feels better because when I hold a controller B, ✕ is on the bottom which when held flat is toward my back. If I am backing out of something I would go the opposite way I am facing.
Prior to a 4 button format it made sense for the Left button (B) to be Refutation and the right (A) to be Affirmation because most languages are read left to right. This means it is generally ingrained for most people that going left means going backwards and going right means going forwards. If you're in a menu and you wish to go forward with your decision, press A, (The right side button). Would you like to return to where you were? Press B to go back (The left side button). This means the Left side button for affirmation is still functionally sound and likely to be understood easier as the button that should progress you through a menu or confirm a decision. The bottom button takes back because of what I previously stated - but also because it is in the placement where historically the left side button resided. It is also easier to press as it's halfway between the opposite side button so takes less effort for something you do so often.
Besides, Xbox has more ✕'s than ◯'s in it's name and therefore is more wrong than right so what ever it uses should not be considered as the standard.
Right side confirm, bottom deny is the metric of controllers. Bottom confirm, right deny is the imperial of controllers because it only makes sense to Americans.