Consumers quickly learn what environmentally friendly looks like

Without realizing it, our brains quickly learn to associate certain visual cues - a curve of a car or color of a product - with certain attributes, such as its environmental friendliness. You can't judge a book by its cover, goes the saying. Yet, that's exactly what people do, according to new research from Stanford mechanical engineer Erin MacDonald and visiting researcher Ping Du. They found that when it comes to judging environmental friendliness, people learn to make quick decisions based on looks without even realizing it. Their study was published recently in the Journal of Mechanical Design . Stanford mechanical engineer Erin MacDonald found that people quickly learned to associate visual cues - such as the teardrop shape of a Toyota Prius - with environmental friendliness. (Image credit: Getty Images) "The idea of products cueing things is not new," said MacDonald.