The impact of brand, sex, moment and distance of estimation on the speed perception of vehicles

Our research explores whether stereotypes influence estimations of the speed of a cheap vehicle and an expensive one viewed on film by participants. A second aim was to determine whether stereotyping could arise while completing a questionnaire. DAVIES (2009) demonstrated that no effect attributable to stereotyping could be detected among 18–21 year old participants’ contemporaneous estimates of two vehicle speed (the cheap Volkswagen Polo and the expensive BMW). In Experiment 1 we tested Davies’result among 14–18 year old school students. No interaction was found between any of the factors involved. The analysis also revealed that neither the main effects due to brand, nor the moment of estimation of the speed was significant. Furthermore, the main effect due to participants’ sex was not significant. In Experiment 2 we tested DAVIES’ same results (2009) among university students (N = 351), but with a different experimental arrangement. Participants estimated the speed of cars from two different distances. No interaction was detected between any of the factors – brand, distance, sex – involved. The analysis revealed that neither the main effects of the brand, nor the distance of the vehicle from the camcorder was significant. However, the effect of participants’sex wasfound to be significant: females’ overall speed estimate achieved a higher grade of accuracy