Study Confirms That Cars Have Personalities 213
Ponca City, We love you writes "A study has confirmed that many people see human facial features in the front ends of automobiles and ascribe various personality traits to cars. Forty study participants assessed cars based on a system known as geometric morphometrics by viewing high-resolution, 3D computer reconstructions and printed images of 38 actual 2004-06 car models and rating each model on 19 traits such as dominance, maturity, gender, and friendliness, and if they liked the car. Study participants liked best the cars scoring high in the so-called power traits — the most mature, masculine, arrogant, and angry-looking ones. Researchers theorized that over evolutionary time, humans have developed a selective sensitivity to features in the human face that convey information on sex, age, emotions, and intentions. The lead researcher explained, 'Seeing too many faces, even in mountains or toast, has little or no penalty, but missing or misinterpreting the face of a predator or attacker could be fatal.'"
Of course... (Score:4, Insightful)
Those features are there by design. Marketing tells engineering to make it so.
Re:Uh... (Score:3, Insightful)
They are doing research on what the front of that flying car should look like.
It IS the third millennium, I would like my flying car already.
I'm getting a bit tired... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm getting a bit tired of Slashdot trolling its own users just to create discussions. Maybe this wasn't the best news post to comment on since only the title is bad but I'm sure most know what I'm talking about. Why can't you just make good titles and good summaries? Do bad ones really generate that many more clicks (ad views)?
Uh... Duh... (Score:5, Insightful)
And if people are going to see "faces" in automobiles, they are going to see expressions, too.
Did somebody actually get CREDIT for doing this study, which appears to be a phenomenal statement of the obvious?
Re:There's a reason some cars cost more than other (Score:5, Insightful)
Why don't they take a cheap car and put a sexy face on it? Because then nobody would buy the expensive cars.
Ummm, so couldn't someone who makes a cheaper car put a little bit more effort into how the car looks and make more money off it? Either through higher sticker price or increased sales?
Drive a car like a BMW or Porsche or whatever -- I mean really drive it like it's capable of being driven -- and you'll understand a little better why cars like that cost more. I know what comes next: Overpriced? Depends on who you ask.
Re:Of course... (Score:5, Insightful)
A car's personality is more than it's looks.
If it was only the look of the Miata that counted then it wouldn't have been such a success.
It's also about how it feels to drive and how well the design of the driver's area is done.
Sure. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Uh... Duh... (Score:4, Insightful)
True, even the earliest Disney cartoons gave cars faces (well, they gave faces to just about anything but that's beside the point, my point anyway)
But come on, don't tell me car designers, at least nowadays, don't know perfectly well that people see faces in their cars... because they put them there!
The study should have been backward: do car designers make cars look to have human facial expressions?
The value of the study would have been the same though: null, void, zilch. God what a waste of time.
Re:There's a reason some cars cost more than other (Score:1, Insightful)
Thank you, the voice of reason. The sad part is that 95% of BMW owners (probably less Porsche owners since they seem to be more the enthusiast demographic) will ever truly drive the car. It's not about doing 140MPH in a straight line, it's about burying the needle into the redline and getting some serious full-opposite lock drifting in at the track...
Me, I drive an Audi RS/4. A bit harder to get to mis-behave, but still a seriously fun and fast track car :)
Re:Dupe (Score:2, Insightful)
All cars look like animals (Score:5, Insightful)
I did a study on cars and asked like 40 of my friends to rate a bunch of cars selected at random. The options for choices were "like a squirrel", "like a fox", "like a tiger", "like a bird", "like a bear" and "like a turtle." Without exception, everyone likened each car presented to some kind of animal. Therefore people think all cars look like animals.
Did anyone catch the flaw?
Now go back and look at the summary. All of the words given as choices in describing the cars are closely linked to personality traits. So of COURSE they will be perceived to have personalities if they are described in those terms!
Car Face Expression (Score:3, Insightful)
The perceived personality that TFA talks about has little to do with a car's actual performance characteristics and more to do with how the car owner wishes to be perceived, at least to anyone who knows the first thing about cars. Round "open-eyed" headlights and a surprised mouth may suggest some sort of anime-style "passive femininity" to people who aren't familiar with, say, a Shelby Cobra [limit4000.net] or Ferrari Barchetta [blogspot.com], but eventually even the nonenthusiast consumer will learn that "angry aerodynamic eyebrow" headlights and "low-slung frowny grilles" can be just as easily applied to mediocre grocery-getting minivans as high-end sports cars. The face of one's car tends to say far more about its owner than it does about the car itself.
Look at the front of a Prius. [timothyhumphrey.name] Obviously not marketed towards macho leadfoot NASCAR wannabes, but look: The grille is clearly smiling at you, but the headlights connote a high-tech aerodynamic (albeit not unfriendly) robot, in contrast to the helpful eager puppy look of, say, a new Thunderbird. [weblog.com]
(For my (nonexistent) money, the new car that strikes the best balance is the new Challenger. [newdodgechallenger.net] The headlights are browed just right to look serious without being psychopathically aggressive, and in combination with the slightly smirking lower (intercooler?) intake the whole face looks confident without being obnoxiously threatening. It would have been a much better Bumblebee than that stupid Camaro.)
Re:Dupe (Score:3, Insightful)
But even further studies shows that anthropomorphizing things makes them happy.
Re:There's a reason some cars cost more than other (Score:3, Insightful)
Because then nobody would buy the expensive cars.
Unlikely to be true. Cars are a status symbol. Cars are also the most expensive impulse purchase most will ever own. The combination of the two ensures the wealthy will continue to purchase cars simply because they are expensive - so long as the general public is also aware they are expensive.
Over the last three decades, some of the most expensive luxury cars have had some of the worst mechanical reliability problems and sales continued strong. The wealthy don't care if it runs good. The wealthy generally don't care what it looks like. The bottom line, does it project a sense of wealth, status, and entitlement? If the answer is yes, the vehicle will sell. Look at how ugly some of the high end luxury cars were during the 80s and 90s for proof.
I remember during the 80's someone wrote Ann Landers complaining their high end luxury car came with tinted windows and no one was able to see him using his cell phone - or for that matter, see him driving his uber expensive vehicle. Remember, this is when cel phones were attached to the vehicle and simply owning one had status implications. He was most upset about it. And that mentality is what rules the roost. It's about status and convincing the general public his tiny penis is actually larger than yours - nothing else.
Re:Of course... (Score:3, Insightful)
It would not be terribly difficult to make an electric vehicle out of most any current car. However, how would people be able to look at it and tell that it is an electric car and know that you are a wonderful person for saving the environment if it looked like a normal car? By making it ugly, then people can see it and know what great sacrifices you are making for the good of the environment.