Evaluating Psychological Aspects of Wood and Laminate Products in Indoor Settings with Pictures

Abstract

Natural materials in indoor settings influence the human organism positively. Wood is a natural material and shows similar positive effects on the individual's well-being. Because of similar looks and functional properties, wood can be compared with laminate. However, when investigating psychological differences, wood is usually compared with carpets, glass, leather, stone, or plastic, but not compared with a visually similar material such as laminate. The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the different psychological perception of wood and laminate products in an indoor setting. This study further investigated what specific psychological aspects can differentiate wood from laminate products, and if wood is preferred over laminate and is more likely to be purchased. Different pictures that depict wood and laminate products in an indoor setting were used to evaluate the psychological perception. This evaluation included measuring 11 quality criteria, the perception of the environmental atmosphere, and the purchase decision. The experimental design was a 2 × 2 × 2 design with repeated measures for material and sequence. The sample consisted of 93 experts as well as nonexperts for wood. The result shows that wood products are rated higher than laminate products regarding several psychological aspects, such as health, physical and mental stimulation, and performance enhancement. In addition, wood products were rated significantly more warming and cozy, and the participants would recommend, purchase, and accept more deficiencies for purchasing wood products than for laminate products. Overall, the material wood was preferred over the material laminate.

Cardiorespiratory Interaction and Autonomic Sleep Quality Improve during Sleep in Beds Made from Pinus cembra (Stone Pine) Solid Wood

“…Humans perceive wood as being practical, aesthetic and climate friendly. Psychologically, wood is also considered to be warmer, more comforting, relaxing and inviting as compared to wood laminate by both expert and non-expert subjects [ 1 , 2 ]. In contrast to earlier views, newer studies have shown that wood surfaces suppress microbial activity better than plastic surfaces [ 3 ] due to their inherent antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial [ 4 , 5 ] and antistatic qualities [ 6 ].…”

Wood or Laminate?—Psychological Research of Customer Expectations

“…To measure the psychological aspects between wood and laminate, the Quality Criteria Catalog for Green Product Evaluation (QCC-green) was used [32]. The questionnaire has 35 items which comprise 11 subscales: (1) sustainability; (2) materials and processing; (3) technical and practical function; (4) repair and maintenance; (5) perception; (6) atmosphere; (7) mobility and combinability; (8) health; (9) physical and mental stimulation; (10) performance enhancement; and (11) values and symbolic functions.…”

“…Jiménez et al [32] compared the psychological effects of wood and laminate products with photographs. Wood products are rated as significantly more warm and cozy as well as healthier and physically and mentally more stimulating than laminate products.…”

The perceived quality of wooden building materials—A systematic literature review and future research agenda

“…For example, Thompson et al (2010) Only a couple of the reviewed studies investigated wood product quality using the perceived quality approach (Costa et al, 2011;Toivonen, 2012) or examining the quality criteria (Jiménez et al, 2015(Jiménez et al, , 2016. Costa et al (2011) constructed an econometric model that explained consumers' purchase decisions by simultaneously integrating perceived product quality and tastes.…”

“…In her study, the observed dimensions of perceived product quality and value were logically linked. Jiménez et al (2015) and Jiménez et al (2016) used the quality criteria catalog for green product evaluation when investigating consumer perceptions and preferences for psychological aspects of wood products. The quality criteria catalog for green product evaluation included sustainability, health, physical and mental stimulation, performance enhancement, values, and symbolic functions, perception, atmosphere, mobility and combinability, materials and processing, technical and practical function, and repair and maintenance.…”