Predicted vs. Perceived Weight Based on Packaging Design

Product packaging can serve as a medium that conveys information and concepts regarding its contents. Previous research showed that a product image (visual object) spatially located at the bottom of the package led consumers to evaluate the product to be visually heavier in comparison to an image located at the top of the package did. The present study investigated this location effect (or the bottom-heavy association) in both visual and haptic domains. I succeeded in replicating the location effect in the evaluation of the visual heaviness of a product (Study 1). A diminished but significant location effect was also demonstrated in the haptically perceived heaviness when participants lifted the product with their hands (Study 2). However, the preceding evaluation of the visual heaviness of the product disrupted (rather reversed) the bottom-heavy association in the subsequent heaviness perception of the lifted product (Study 3). When the product image was shown on the bottom of the package, participants perceived the lifted product to be lighter in comparison to when the product image was shown at the top. These results suggest that the psychological effects of packaging design are elicited not only by visual processing but also by visual-haptic integration and that they have bidirectional effects on the consumer’s processing strategy.