Can Apple Make You Smarter?

Posted by John Farrier in Advertising on March 31, 2008 at 12:34 pm


A weird experiment from Duke University:

Whether you are a Mac person or a PC person, even the briefest exposure to the Apple logo may make you behave more creatively, according to recent research from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the University of Waterloo, Canada….

The team conducted an experiment in which 341 university students completed what they believed was a visual acuity task, during which either the Apple or IBM logo was flashed so quickly that they were unaware they had been exposed to the brand logo. The participants then completed a task designed to evaluate how creative they were, listing all of the uses for a brick that they could imagine beyond building a wall. People who were exposed to the Apple logo generated significantly more unusual uses for the brick compared with those who were primed with the IBM logo, the researchers said. In addition, the unusual uses the Apple-primed participants generated were rated as more creative by independent judges.

Link via Evangelical Outpost


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25 comments to "Can Apple Make You Smarter?"

  1. Elke Tedije
    March 31st, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    An other one: Paint it white, place a logo, name it iBrick and sell for $999 to creative Mac users.

  2. Hugh
    March 31st, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    I don't buy it. I realize that this is a study coming out of Duke University, but the tantalizing promise of subliminal messaging has prompted thousands of investigations into ways in which images we cannot consciously detect can affect us. Some of these studies have had positive results, only to be debunked, and so there is a very established body of evidence against this .

    I don't know of any studies involving brands, but I can hardly believe that brands affect people more than excessively disturbing or violent scenes, which have been frequently used in studying subliminal influences.

  3. Video Game Dork
    March 31st, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    How could a picture of an apple make someone behave more creativly? They're brand logos, not glyphs of magic.

    I don't buy it either. After all, how do we know they study wasn't somehow funded by apple, and/or the students who seemed more creative were put into the 'apple' group. After all, they didn't subject both groups to both logos-tests.

  4. luke
    March 31st, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    Why did they use the boring IBM logo? That would stifle anyones creativity. They could have at least used the flying windows logo.

  5. luvpumpkns
    March 31st, 2008 at 2:36 pm

    o lovely. mac users are already pretty pretentious about their software. glad duke could add fuel to that fire.

  6. probinu
    March 31st, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    I agree totally, I am most creative when sitting in a starbucks typing on my Macbook Air, listening to my IPod and texting with other creatives on my IPhone. I usually have my nike sports propped up on one of the pottery barn tables and my gap pants keep me most comfy.

  7. Rachel
    March 31st, 2008 at 2:48 pm

    i agree with luv. mac users need to get over themselves and their merchandise.

  8. Yosh
    March 31st, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    Apple's logo gives me boner; IBM's does not. What does the study say about this phenomenon?

  9. bean
    March 31st, 2008 at 3:04 pm

    This could be explained by the use of a picture for Apple vs letters for IBM.

  10. OddNumber
    March 31st, 2008 at 3:42 pm

    I suspect it has to do with the curves and smooth color transitions in the apple logo compared to the straight lined and visually unpleasing IBM logo.

    ah, the memories of taking quick studies on my way to the Armadillo Grill at Duke. Crazy what students will do for a couple dollars or a Snickers bar.

  11. adriano518
    March 31st, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    yeah dont know about this. isn't mac marketing trying to target people who are to stupid to use a pc? PC UP MAC DOWN

  12. Aar000n
    March 31st, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    Wow...
    Sadest attempt at making macs seem better than other operating systems ever.

  13. fastergrace
    March 31st, 2008 at 3:59 pm

    As everyone else seems to agree, the Apple logo is just way prettier than the IBM logo. Methinks that study is bull, though. It definitely doesn't make me feel any more creative. They were probably just a group of more creative people. I'd like to actually see the results.

  14. xander
    March 31st, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    adriano518

    "to stupid"?

  15. Cindy
    March 31st, 2008 at 4:21 pm

    I think it's because the apple logo is always associated with the most up to date technology, whereas you almost never see the IBM logo. Just a thought, dont think it would make a difference on tests though.

  16. relright
    March 31st, 2008 at 4:28 pm

    as a Tar Heel fan,

    it figures that Duke would be wasting time and money on something so ridiculous.

  17. Thespian24601
    March 31st, 2008 at 4:37 pm

    Wow, I'm a Mac user, but that's sad. There's no way a simple logo can do that, unless most of the people that took that experiment were users or something of the type, that were already positively affected by the Apple Logo.

  18. oezicomix
    March 31st, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    odd as it seems but i must admit that ever since i am running windows on my imac (yes, i tried, but osx just didn`t cut it for me) and i am being exposed to both logos on a daily basis, i feel strangely mellow, balanced out and only JUST the right amount creative!

  19. Jacoby87
    March 31st, 2008 at 9:47 pm

    Oezicomix: hahaha

    I came here with intent to post what basically everyone has already said. Let's hope the obnoxious apple users don't hear about this. Not all users are bad about it, but I was coming out of a coffee shop downtown here, and there was a white scion with an apple logo sticker on its back window. I then stopped, held my breath, and said a little prayer for society.

  20. JamesM
    April 1st, 2008 at 1:37 am

    Apple products are bad for the environment with the amount of SMUG they produce.

  21. Alannah
    April 1st, 2008 at 2:18 am

    *VideoGameDork*

    "not glyphs of magic"

    I think that summed up the problem with the study perfectly, as well as sounding hella cool. I'll have to try to find some way to work that into my daily lexicon.

  22. probinu
    April 1st, 2008 at 12:25 pm

    Jacoby87---

    Maybe if they had bought a DELL they could afford something a little nicer than a scion.

  23. Jacoby87
    April 1st, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    Maybe so! Haha.

  24. Video Game Dork
    April 4th, 2008 at 10:53 am

    Why thank you, Alannah. :)

  25. bailey
    October 10th, 2008 at 11:18 pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pam0fpxjB4w


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