The study made some strong remarks about the kind of people who would modify their car’s exhaust. If psychopathy and sadism aren’t bad enough, apparently loud truck owners would do even worse.

  • A professor in Ontario, Canada, has released results of a study of people’s attitudes toward loud vehicles.
  • Having asked undergraduate business students whether they think such vehicles are “cool,” the result, not totally surprisingly, was that many of them do.
  • Respondents also scored high on the “psychopathy and sadism” scale, but the study was only for cars. Truck and motorcycle owners, the study suggests, might score even worse.

A new study by Western University in Ontario says that if you’ve got a car with a modified exhaust system, odds are you’re a guy and probably also psychotic and sadistic. Slapping a Cherry Bomb glasspack on your Monte Carlo doesn’t (necessarily) mean you’re a Ted Bundy–level psycho, but the data someone points to a personality that enjoys inflicting unpleasantness on others. The study—catchily titled, “A desire for a loud car with a modified muffler is predicted by being a man and higher scores on psychopathy and sadism”—was commissioned by professor Julie Aitken Schermer, who heard many a loud car in London, Ontario, and wondered what kind of person would want their car exhaust to be louder than normal. She probably could have saved a lot of time by simply looking up Cadillac Escalade-V registrations. …

  • @jpreston2005@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    *uncomfortable

    Yep, you sound like someone with a modified exhaust all right. When I went to the auto shop to get my muffler replaced, as it had rusted a hole in it, auto shop owner asks what kind of muffler I want on it, with hesitancy. When I said I wanted a stock OEM, he smiled broadly, and while I waited for them to finish up we made fun of people who wanted attention so badly they acted like assholes for it.

      • @alyth@lemmy.world
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        166 months ago

        How do you go through life without grasping the very simple concept that your freedom ends where another person’s freedom begins. No it shouldn’t be tolerated that someone shits up the place with sounds they enjoy to the discomfort of everyone else.

          • @alyth@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            I think there’s a misunderstanding. Sure it’s fine to like engine sounds, and it’s ok to go loud in an acceptable setting (motor show, race). What almost everybody in this thread is taking issue with are drivers who modify their mufflers and drive around on public roads.