Volvo study shows strong emotional response from beautiful car design
It appears that car design is much more than just making vehicles look pretty and aerodynamic, it appears that car design can summon up a powerful emotional reaction in humans, and in particularly in men, or at least this is what a recent study from Volvo says.
The study was conducted with the aid of London-based electroencephalograph – EEG – neurofeedback specialists Myndplay, and studies how the brain reacts from an emotional stand-point to car design and how design aesthetics make us feel.
What they were looking for were activation and spikes in Beta and Gamma frequencies in the left prefrontal cortex of respondents’ brains, the experiment comprised the viewing and rating a series of images while wearing a dry sensor EEG headset.
These images included perceived ‘bad’ and ‘out-dated’ car design, both happy and crying babies, as well as ‘beautiful’ men and women. The images also included the Volvo Concept Coupe – which was first unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show.
The data gathered from the experiment has shown that human will react emotionally to the shape of a vehicle, with men being ‘programmed’ to like sleek design and beautiful lines.
Seventy-four percent of the men said that good design made them feel positive, the study also showed that men experience more emotion while looking at images of beautiful car design than they did when looking at an image of a crying child.
On the female front however, they displayed an emotional intensity to a picture of a crying child nearly double that of male participants and 33 percent of women rated images of car design higher than an image of an attractive man.
Sixty percent of men also said that driving a beautiful car makes them feel confident and empowered.
Thomas Ingenlath – Volvo Cars senior vice president of design – said that the study proves what has been long suspected, that beautiful car design can elicit a strong emotional response in humans, ranging from a positive frame of mind to a sense of empowerment.
