Title: The role of surprise on persuasion in industrial design

Authors: Edgar R. Rodríguez Ramírez

Addresses: School of Design, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between surprise and persuasion. A number of designs of mousetraps were tested to assess the emotional response of people, including surprise, and how willing people were to use the mousetraps in the future. The study suggests that the traps that were most successful at persuading people to use them were the ones in which the lowest intensity of surprise was reported. The study suggests that the lower the level of surprise people reported towards the task with each trap, the more willing they were to use that trap if they found the situation undesirable; unless surprise was accompanied by other pleasant emotions, in which case participants were more willing to use it.

Keywords: industrial design; persuasion; emotion; surprise; behaviour; product development; mousetrap design; emotional response; product development; pleasant emotions; unpleasant emotions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2012.049837

International Journal of Product Development, 2012 Vol.16 No.3/4, pp.263 - 283

Published online: 30 Dec 2014 *

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