Do you look like your car?

[Kaere]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/autos/you-are-what-you-drive-study-shows-people-tend-to-drive-cars-that-resemble-their-own-faces-1.1993200

People tend to buy cars whose grilles and headlights resemble their own faces, according to a new study by two Austrian researchers.

Many studies have been done to show that people see cars' fronts like human faces and assign them personalities based on these "faces." However, a new study by psychologists Stefan Stiegar and Martin Voracek of the University of Vienna takes things a step further and says that people also tend to buy cars that look like they do.

The study, titled "Not only dogs resemble their owners, cars do, too" and printed in the Swiss Journal of Psychology, was built around black-and-white photos of 30 people and their cars. The researchers made sure only to use cars that the owners had somehow selected themselves, rather than cars received as gifts, prizes or through inheritance.

Using these images, Stiegar and Voracek made up image sets with the car at the top and six possible owners, including the real one, beneath it. The image sets were handed out to 160 participants, who were asked to rank each of those six possible owners as the most to least likely to own that car (on a scale of one to six, one being most likely).

Stiegar and Voracek suspected the participants – split equally between men and women and across all ages, from 16 to 78 – would be able to tell with better-than-chance odds which car belonged to whom—and they did. The real owner was invariably ranked '1' most frequently, and '6' least frequently.

"The average person can detect a physical similarity in the 'faces' of cars and their owners," summed up research psychologist Jesse Bering in his evaluation of the study.

The authors of the study controlled for the possibility that participants were working off of gender or status stereotypes by conducting the same test using photos of the car from the rear or side, as well as the front. Their findings showed that a participants' odds of choosing correctly were better-than-chance only when the image set included the cars' grilles.

Stiegar and Voracek tried one final test, too, based on the results of a recent study that showed people can match owners to their dogs. They showed participants image sets with a car and six dogs, and asked them to rank each dog "on the likelihood of its master being the owner of the car shown."

When the image set included the car's grille, again the odds were way better than chance. "Implied in these results is the startling fact most car owners are unwittingly purchasing cars that look like them," explains Bering. "To top it off, our dogs’ mug shots apparently bear an objective similarity to our cars’ 'faces' as well."

The study is the latest in a series that shows we tend to subconsciously treat their cars like people, and not just because we give them names and sometimes pamper them. In 2012, research showed car enthusiasts use the same part of the brain to remember cars' looks as they do human faces.

[Rockhopper]

Too much time on their hands Ka! Perhaps there is something in it though, I probably look like my old diesel Landcruiser! Battered, bent and showing it's age!

Tim.

[Kaere]

Hehe... I would never say so if you did!

...me though, I blend into the crowd just like my Outback and I'm comfy with the heated seats

[Rogue]

I have two cars atm, does that make me a Gemini?

[Kaere]

Haha... yes!

[Stirky]

Well I don't think I look like mine, although mine is rather cute looking

Not my van, but the same as mine, although mine is yellow (I am not yellow btw, I do not live in Springfield!!)

[Rockhopper]

I'll bet you look cute too Stirks! Yellow or not!!

Tim.

[Stirky]

Aw thanks Tim

[Kaere]

I think this Jeep is having a laugh...

[Stirky]

Haha, is that your car Kaere? Lol!!!! Nice eyelashes but you need to sort that moustache out girl

[Agartha]

Oh goodness gracious me! The things psychologists come up with!!! Yes, Tim, people have way too much time on their hands!

Stirky, if you are like your van then you are cute and practical!
Rogue: nothing wrong with being a Gemini!
Kaere: that's not your Jeep.....is it???

I don't have a car at the moment so I can't say if I look like my car.......but I'd be very happy if people think I looke like my cat!!!
lol

[Kaere]

Haha Aggie!

Can I just say that these are quite big here at Christmas...

[Rockhopper]

I don't have a car at the moment so I can't say if I look like my car.......but I'd be very happy if people think I looke like my cat!!!
lol

I'll bet both of you look cute too Ags!

Tim.

[Agartha]

hahaha thank you, Tim......always the gentleman!!

[Monk (in hiding)]

Hehe... I would never say so if you did!

...me though, I blend into the crowd just like my Outback and I'm comfy with the heated seats

Liberals drive Outbacks. lsol

[Monk (in hiding)]

[Rogue]

You're looking goood VM

[Monk (in hiding)]

Top 5 Signs Your Car is a Republican


1. It's any brand of pickup

2. It's a Ford

3. It's a Chevy

4. It's a Porsche

5. It's any brand of sports car

Top 5 Signs Your Car is a Democrat


1. It's any brand of hatchback

2. It's a Volkswagen

3. It's a Subaru

4. It's an Acura

5. It's a Mercedes

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Is-Your-Car-a-Republican-or-Democrat/

[Monk (in hiding)]

You're looking goood VM

Yeah, love that HP too, 283 stock, added a CAI, around 290 now.

[Monk (in hiding)]

Maybe within three years this will be da car.

375 hp (8 speed auto). lsol



Hey, I grew up in the 60's and owned one of these. Extensive mods were done, was pushing about 500 hp.  

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