gown is, therefore, flattering to a woman particularly if she has a clear complexion or applies cosmetics appropriately.
There are, however, great numbers of people who have been conditioned to dislike red. They are greatly inhibited and do not have normal emotional reactions to the color. Preference tests conducted on an unconscious level show that those who were brought up in a puritanical tradition dislike red; they associate the vibrant red with immorality or lack of good taste.
Originally, when Puritanism was a social movement, the association of red with moral looseness was on a conscious level. That is, it was a deliberate association made to discourage emotional sensation and expression.
Generally, the association is no longer conscious. It merely shows up in the dislike for red or in a negative reaction to red. In other words, persons who have been brought up in a puritanical environment have an “inhibitory reflex” in relation to red.
The attraction to “period furniture” and ornate design is a good example of a “conditioned reflex.” In other words, if you were brought up in a happy home with Baroque interior decoration you are likely to continue to have a preference for Baroque or other type ornate interiors because deep in the unconscious the pleasant experiences of your childhood are associated with this type of decoration.
The conditioning you received during the years from the day of your birth is called by some researchers the unconscious mind, by others the subconscious and by still others “conditioned reflex.” Whatever they are called, they are basic behavior patterns. These behavior patterns determine the individual’s choice of colors, of objects and ideas.
Pavlov changed the conditioned reflexes of dogs and there are several ways for accomplishing this with humans. Psychoanalysis is one method for bringing the unconscious “conditioned reflex” into a conscious state, thus helping to change or eliminate it. The psychoanalytical approach is generally reserved for highly neurotic individuals or for persons abnormally inhibited or frustrated.
The most effective way for changing the conditioned reflexes of the great masses of “normal” people is by advertising—continuous and constant repetition of psychologically potent words, images, and colors. (Propaganda has also accomplished “miracles” in converting conditioned reflexes into new behavior patterns.)
We are generally not conscious of the images and colors around us. Most aspects of our environment remain in a state of mere sensation. We experience the sensations on an unconscious level; that is, we are usually completely unaware of them.
You may not even be aware of a billboard advertisement that meets your eyes every morning on the way to work. Nevertheless, this billboard is being impressed on your unconscious mind. If the colors and images are in themselves pleasing and satisfying, this pleasurable sensation becomes associated with the advertised product. You are thus developing a favorable conditioned reflex toward the product because it is associated with pleasing colors and images. You are forming a new phase or reforming an old phase of your behavior pattern. The first thing you know you will try a new brand of cigarettes. You have no reason; that is, no conscious reason for this change. The billboard on the way to your office did its job.
The housewife has been buying a certain brand of Brown ’n Serve packaged in an ordinary carton since it first came on the market. Another bakery has recently put Brown ’n Serve in an attractive container. For some time she may continue to ignore the attraction of this new container. She continues to buy her old brand, the first love. She acts according to the initial “conditioned reflex.” But after a number of times in the store, the pleasing colors and images on the new package have impressed themselves. Unconsciously, she picks up the new brand in the attractive container. The repetitious effect of the attractive colors and images has produced a new “conditioned reflex.”
When a number of new package designs for soap were put before a group of women and they were asked, “Which package do you like best?” many opinions were given. Unfortunately, these opinions were taken to mean that they were indicative of what the women would do when they went to the grocery store. Actually, what the researcher had succeeded in getting was an attitude to an artistic creation, not to a soap wrapper.
When buying soap the women’s standards and concepts of good design or art will play no part. In the store the woman is confronted with a multitude of color and image sensations, none of which is consciously appraised on the basis of aesthetic standards.
The following two tests demonstrate the difference between what people say they like and what they actually want.
The tests were to determine which of two package designs for face powder was the more effective. One design was ornate and in five colors (a deep and a light blue, a deep red, pink and black); the other was simple and in two colors (pink and blue-green).
In the first test we asked, “Which of the two designs do you like better for this product?” In the second test we asked a group of women, of the same social and economic status, to choose one of six proposed names for the product and offered the winners boxes of face powder as prizes. Then we asked in which package they wanted to receive their prizes. (The women in this group were made to believe that we were testing the product name; they had no idea that the package design was actually being tested. This kept the focus of the conscious mind on the product name and not on the design.)
The ornate design won out in the “Which do you like?” test. In the “Which package should we send you” test, the simple design pulled far ahead of the ornate one, more than three to one. No information is more important to market researchers than the results of these two tests which showed that the ornate design was the favorite where the conscious attention was on the design; whereas the simple design won out where the conscious attention was not on the design of the package.
Numerous tests on an unconscious level have demonstrated that in the store the typical shopper is not even aware that boxes and labels are designed. Therefore, when you ask for opinions about a package design you are asking the person to become conscious of the design and to take on the role of an art critic but you are not at all getting a buying situation in a store.
For those of us who have studied the history of the fine arts it is not difficult to see why most people consciously choose intricate instead of simple designs, although unconsciously they generally react more favorably to simple art and pattern.
Our aesthetic concepts are still dominated by traditional craft standards and, therefore, the more intricate the design the finer we believe it is. The masses of people associate intricacy and great detail with great art. To the great majority, the more intricate the design, the more beautiful it is, and also the greater is the artist who created it.
In the routine of daily life, however, when they are not conscious of art, people try to escape intricacy whenever they can. Complicated patterns like complicated problems and situations are normally avoided when they are not associated with aesthetics or beauty.
We have conclusive evidence that package designs should not be judged in terms of art if they are intended to serve as marketing tools. The package design is composed of images and colors each of which produces a specific sensation, favorable or unfavorable. Packages have no relation to fine art standards or aesthetic concepts and rarely are they a conscious concern of the shopper.
Action-Motivating and Non-Action-Motivating Attitudes
An expressed attitude may or may not be action-motivating. I
