Isn't it cute : an evolutionary perspective of baby-schema effects in visual product designs

Miesler, Linda; Leder, Helmut; Herrmann, Andreas

Publication type:	Article in scientific journal
Type of review:	Peer review (publication)
Title:	Isn't it cute : an evolutionary perspective of baby-schema effects in visual product designs
Authors:	Miesler, Linda Leder, Helmut Herrmann, Andreas
Published in:	International Journal of Design
Volume(Issue):	5
Issue:	3
Page(s):	17
Pages to:	30
Issue Date:	2011
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
ISSN:	1994-036X 1991-3761
Language:	English
Subjects:	Baby schema; Anthropomorphism; Product design; Consumer Behaviour
Subject (DDC):	658.5: Production management 658.8: Marketing management
Abstract:	Through applying an evolutionary approach, we examined affective consumer responses to facial features in product designs. Previous studies have suggested that consumers might perceive the fronts of cars similarly to how they perceive human faces, but how consumers respond on an affective level to evolutionarily significant features when they are part of artifacts such as product designs has not been thoroughly studied. Therefore, we studied affective responses to features of an important stimulus that is known to elicit affect and approach behavior: the baby schema. We tested whether the affective responses to this stimulus were generalized to product designs, and how stable these generalized responses were over repeated exposures. We manipulated car fronts – and faces as controls – in accordance with the baby schema (e.g., by enlarging the headlights/eyes). Combining facial electromyography with cuteness ratings to assess innate affective responses, we found that our participants (n = 57) showed more positive affective responses to the babyfaced car fronts than to the original stimuli, and that the effect of the babyschema features on positive affect was stable over two repeated exposures, thus did not show effects of fast habituation. These results confirm that consumers' affective responses to visual product designs are affected by evolutionarily-implemented features.
URI:	http://ppcms.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/usermounts/lederh7/2011/MieslerLederHerrmann2011.pdf https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/11464
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	Life Sciences and Facility Management School of Management and Law
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) Institute of Natural Resource Sciences (IUNR)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen Life Sciences und Facility Management

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Miesler, L., Leder, H., & Herrmann, A. (2011). Isn’t it cute : an evolutionary perspective of baby-schema effects in visual product designs. International Journal of Design, 5(3), 17–30. http://ppcms.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/usermounts/lederh7/2011/MieslerLederHerrmann2011.pdf

Miesler, L., Leder, H. and Herrmann, A. (2011) ‘Isn’t it cute : an evolutionary perspective of baby-schema effects in visual product designs’, International Journal of Design, 5(3), pp. 17–30. Available at: http://ppcms.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/usermounts/lederh7/2011/MieslerLederHerrmann2011.pdf.

L. Miesler, H. Leder, and A. Herrmann, “Isn’t it cute : an evolutionary perspective of baby-schema effects in visual product designs,” International Journal of Design, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 17–30, 2011, [Online]. Available: http://ppcms.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/usermounts/lederh7/2011/MieslerLederHerrmann2011.pdf

MIESLER, Linda, Helmut LEDER und Andreas HERRMANN, 2011. Isn’t it cute : an evolutionary perspective of baby-schema effects in visual product designs. International Journal of Design [online]. 2011. Bd. 5, Nr. 3, S. 17–30. Verfügbar unter: http://ppcms.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/usermounts/lederh7/2011/MieslerLederHerrmann2011.pdf

Miesler, Linda, Helmut Leder, and Andreas Herrmann. 2011. “Isn’t It Cute : An Evolutionary Perspective of Baby-Schema Effects in Visual Product Designs.” International Journal of Design 5 (3): 17–30. http://ppcms.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/usermounts/lederh7/2011/MieslerLederHerrmann2011.pdf.

Miesler, Linda, et al. “Isn’t It Cute : An Evolutionary Perspective of Baby-Schema Effects in Visual Product Designs.” International Journal of Design, vol. 5, no. 3, 2011, pp. 17–30, http://ppcms.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/usermounts/lederh7/2011/MieslerLederHerrmann2011.pdf.