Effect of Automobile Body Styles on Perceived Characteristics of Their Owners

Abstract

This study determined whether automobile body styles affected the perceived characteristics of their owners. Line drawings of 16 different cars were produced by exhausting all combinations of 2 hood lengths, 2 hood shapes, 2 trunk sizes, and 2 body heights. 50 subjects were asked to rate their impressions of the probable owners of these cars on 8 different adjectives. The results were consistent with those of an earlier study of the meaning transmitted by women's clothes in that the impressions conveyed by the car bodies were principally related to the main effects of the varied dimensions. There was also evidence, however, of some interaction between the dimensions, suggesting that the tendency for car-body styles to change more slowly than female clothing styles might provide time for car-body styles to develop more complex, idiosyncratic meanings.