brain chemistry study showed that if you told someone they were drinkin an expensive wine (that was really cheap wine), their brain chemically enjoyed it more than in the normal case. relate that finding to cars, etc. what are the implications? does it mean we should strive for the stuff that is "supposed" to be good even when it isn't?

 

Placebo (sp) effect at work.


As for cars, *cough cough* mercedes/BMW/porsche/etc etc all have that symbolism that makes you want to think the car is 10 times better then the competition (and worth the extra price mark up) but really is the same (but overpriced) shit. So yes it does apply to cars.

As for what to strive for, I guess it depends on your character. If you want to be a brand whore (which I'm sure everyone is guilty for at one time or another) there is nothing wrong with it nor is there nothing wrong with choosing the bang for the buck company as well.

If we all were brand whores, there would be no competition and thus no brand names to be brand whores about

 

Very interesting...Spec_Ops hit in on the head, placebo.

"Oh, the thing I have here is good? OH YEAH! I can tell it's good!"

I don't completely agree about the car stuff. I think it IS the reason why every other car I see in my city is an M3 or Boxter, but head to the track and you'll see a blend of cars that are appreciated for more genuine reasons.

 

three buck Chuck FTW!!!!!

It would work on the people who most buy into brand image and snob appeal. I fall for than less and less every day.

Thats not to say I would put a loaded Chrsler on par with a seven series, but I here from women who will pay $300 for a Burberry scarf. "But its a Burberry!" Yeah and it is just barely softer than an $8 one from target with the same pattern on it. Or a $400 Coach CLOTH bag. "But its a Coach!" Wow. You paid $380 more than you had to to get some ugly letter "C"'s all over your bag. But everone will know how cool you are.

Its like the thread where someone will say "You just don't understand what great time my *insert overpriced watch name here* keeps. " When the Simpsons watch from Burger King may be off the expensive one by about a second per year. They like it because they think it is better than what everyone else has. They tell themselves, "This is one of the finer things and I am worth it because I am not the great unwashed."

Ok. Sure. I used to fall for that more but I have come to the conclusion that it is all BS. But if people get people get the extra utility out of buying the expensive one, fantastic. The thing is, the simpsons watch, the timex, and the rolex all say it is a quarter after 12.

 

Hence the butt dyno when people mod their cars.

 

I think there is a difference between this test and cars. If you took a Honda Accord and a Mercedes E350 (about an average sized sedan in both, no?), the differences aside from price are staggering.

In order to duplicate this test with cars we would have to mimic the situation with the wine tasting. That means:

- No make/model distinction, we'd have to have a car that nobody recognizes, maybe simply a one-off specifically for this test, however you would need two. They should be painted the same color as well since I think many people have a liking/dislike for certain colors.

- Run the same test on both, but you can't tell the person what's under the hood, location of assembly, etc. This would be like telling someone the grapes of wine A come from New Jersey and wine B from California. This is a test, so all variables must be taken into account.

- The ONLY difference between the two cars would be the sticker price. If you kept the sticker on the cars and one was $20,000 versus $40,000, then you'd have a similar situation as with the wine.

Perhaps after testing both cars, some might think the second one is better, because, well, it's $40,000 and not $20,000. To the lay person, can they really tell the difference between a 5 speed and a 6 speed auto? Or a 2.5l 4-cyl. versus a 3.0l 6-cyl.?

To be honest I really don't know because there are more minute differences between testing a car and tasting wines. In one instance you're testing touch, agility and motility, acceleration, and comfort, and on the other hand, it's primarily your taste buds.

That wine test is really cool though. We don't really know much about the brain, but I think class distinction, brand names, and so on have ways of affecting receptors in your mind. Perhaps when a woman learns she's been gifted a Coach bag rather than a Target bag, endorphins are released that provide a sense of pleasure. It's really a person to person thing, and some people are simply attracted to that chemical pleasure (even though they are not consciously aware of what's going on up there).



Take most of the users on this site. We all look at cars, like an S2000, and we get a sense of pleasure. Listen to that engine, do you feel how purposeful the shifter is? And the handling? I don't know about some of you, but I FEEL a connection when I'm looking at a car and wondering to myself, "Now that is something truly beautiful". Of course, some people don't see what the big deal is with a car, but they may find wine a huge deal, or handbags, or whatever.

Evidence of this is abundant in the Photo Gallery forum. Just look at how many people want to have sex with someone's car because of how it looks, or some nice exotic parts they've applied. Or like that Gemballa Carrera GT, gives me a boner, as if I was looking at a potential mate!

As for A-holes with a BMW/Porsche/Audi/Merc/etc., some are simply the way they are not because of the car they drive, but simply because they are set up to be A-holes. Others have such an intense attraction to their cars, it's like shielding their trophy wife from the world.

But you can't seriously say a BMW is the same as a Honda, just overpriced. Honda has qualities and BMW has qualities. The more technology a car has, of course the price is going to be marked up. Honda uses money to research emissions technologies, while BMW might use money for the quality shaping of metal or comfort/road noise technology. To each their own.

I am not keen to wines, so I can't say that there is hardly a difference between one wine and another. Cars are a lot easier to distinguish, especially when you've been infatuated with them for some time. To me, a bottle of Carlo Rossi is the same as, well, IDK any top of the line wines

 

Franzia Box Wine FTW! $12 for 5 liters. Needless to say, I am a college student.

 

I'd have to agree with the placebo effect with wine

...but my buddy gave me a glass of wine a while back and asked if I liked it. -Best wine I have ever tasted, great light aftertaste (i'm no wine connoisseur) but I really liked it (could be coincidence).

Turned out to be a $300 bottle of whatever...

 

Eeeehhhhh. The audience was weak. Put 20 wine knuckleheads in a room and you will be able to tell the difference pretty quick. Pricing wines is a marketing, not a quality issue. But there are definitely better wines at each price point.

 

They know shit about wine. Some rich ppl just have those expensive wine for the "look". You give them a $300 wine and $10 wine they won't tell any diff. Hell even if you piss 1 ml. into the wine and say it's $300, they'd still enjoy it.