Jump on the innovator’s train: cognitive principles for creating appreciation in innovative product designs

In everyday life, we find shared preferences for idiosyncratic product features paradigmatically displayed by bestselling gadgets like Apples iPhone’s touch screen, which after gaining acceptance and appreciation are susceptible to being copied by competitors. Psychological research on the phenomenon of shared preferences for innovative design features and the probable benefit of copying them is still lacking. We tested gains of acceptance for imitators through an adaptation paradigm where typicality and liking of potentially innovative features were analysed dynamically. We found significant changes in typicality and liking for imitators being highly similar to the original. These adaptation processes in combination with transfer effects create the specific opportunity for imitators to jump on the innovator’s train by providing similar innovative features and thereby participating in the initial innovator’s success. Importantly, they participate best not by solely copying a specific novel feature, but by additionally generally looking very similar to the innovator.