Men who drive Audis, BMWs or Mercedes are more likely to be selfish

Personality analyzed

09. June 2024 2:49 p.m. Robert Klatt

Egocentric men are more likely to own a prestige car like an Audi, BMW or Mercedes and behave more recklessly in traffic than average.

Helsinki, Finland). Science has conducted various studies to examine the correlations between drivers’ personal characteristics and the vehicles they prefer. According to a study by the market research institute Censuswide and the portal ScrapCarComparison, drivers of cars with gasoline engines have the highest IQ and drivers of electric cars the lowest. Researcher of University of Helsinki Social psychologist Jan-Erik Lönnqvist studied whether drivers of premium brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes share certain personality traits.

“I’ve noticed that those who are most likely to run a red light, fail to yield to pedestrians, and generally drive recklessly and too fast often drive fast German cars.”

Several studies have already shown that drivers of expensive cars violate traffic rules more often. Psychology explains this phenomenon by saying that wealth has a corrupting effect on people, which can trigger unethical behavior in different situations.

Study of 1,892 Finnish car owners

According to their publication in International Journal of Psychology The Lönnqvist scientists used a different research approach and examined whether certain types of people, regardless of their financial resources, tend to own status cars and break traffic rules more often. For their study, the researchers surveyed 1,892 Finnish car owners about their spending habits and wealth. Test subjects also completed a standardized test on personality traits.

Results were analyzed using the five-factor model, which captures personality traits across the five key areas of openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion and agreeableness. It has been determined that men who are particularly egocentric, inconsistent, unpleasant and argumentative often own a prestige car such as an Audi, BMW or Mercedes.

“These personality traits explain the desire to own status products, and these same traits also explain why these individuals are more likely than others to break traffic rules.”

Conscientious people also prefer status cars

Surprisingly, the study also shows that people who are conscientious, generally respectable, ambitious, reliable and well-organized also prefer status cars.

“This link is probably explained by the importance they attach to quality. All car brands have a certain image, and by driving a reliable car, they send the message that they themselves are reliable.

The link between conscientiousness personality traits and interest in status cars exists for both men and women. In contrast, the link between egocentric personality traits and status cars was only found in men and not women. The researchers also explain that the links were only examined among Finnish consumers. It is therefore conceivable that the correlations do not exist in other countries whose consumption habits differ significantly from Finland.

International Journal of Psychology, doi: 10.1002/ijop.12642