title: Face to Face : The Perception of Automotive Designs.
abstract: Over evolutionary time, humans have developed a selective sensitivity to features in the human face that convey information on sex, age, emotions, and intentions. This ability might not only be applied to our conspecifics nowadays, but also to other living objects (i.e., animals) and even to artificial structures, such as cars. To investigate this possibility, we asked people to report the characteristics, emotions, personality traits, and attitudes they attribute to car fronts, and we used geometric morphometrics (GM) and multivariate statistical methods to determine and visualize the corresponding shape information. Automotive features and proportions are found to covary with trait perception in a manner similar to that found with human faces. Emerging analogies are discussed. This study should have implications for both our understanding of our prehistoric psyche and its interrelation with the modern world.
authors.affiliation: Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria.|Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria.|EFS Unternehmensberatung GmbH, Ungargasse 59-61, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Windhager
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria.|Department of Scientific Computing, Florida State University, Dirac Science Library, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-4210, USA.
authors.forename: Dennis E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Slice
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schaefer
authors.affiliation: Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oberzaucher
authors.affiliation: EFS Unternehmensberatung GmbH, Ungargasse 59-61, 1090, Vienna, Austria. tthorstensen@efs.co.at.
authors.forename: Truls
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thorstensen
authors.affiliation: Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology, Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria. karl.grammer@univie.ac.at.
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Grammer
keywords: Automobiles; Faces; Geometric morphometrics; Human perception; Maturity; Trait allocation