Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
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Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
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Re: Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
#2The future is going to be great, the implications of these findings seem obvious: auto-tune for my voice is coming so that people think I am thrilled that they called.
To monetize it, they can sell it to contact centres so that sales reps sound super engaged and interesting, and customer support reps seem genuinely concerned.
Re: Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
#3Re: Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
#4Re: Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
#5'we automatically associate variations in one particular property of images or sounds with variations in levels of emotional arousal.' The future is going to be great, the implications of these findings seem obvious: auto-tune for my voice is coming so that people think I am thrilled that they called. To monetize it, they can sell it to contact centres so that sales reps sound super engaged and interesting, and custo…
Re: Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
#6I did this test with my toddler and he chose “correctly.”
Re: Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
#7Re: Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
#8This could even potentially be just from societal conditioning.
Re: Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
#9Seems similar to the Bouba/Kiki effect [1] where we automatically associate spiky and smooth shapes with certain names. I did this test with my toddler and he chose “correctly.” [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect
This process could also account for the classic “cross-modal” finding, first reported in 1929 and replicated around the world many times since, that people tend to pair a blobby shape with a word-sound like “bouba” and a spiky shape with a word like “kiki”.
Re: Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming
#10Spiky shapes are like a dog showing its teeth or the fur standing up along its back. It's how animals and even plants get you to keep your distance.