Understanding Design Methodologies

Why is it that we want our belongings to do more for us than to function well?

I own a variety of guitars, some simply for the aesthetic value, others for the way they sound, however I feel that this guitar carries both qualities of sounding good and being eye catching. I don't think its enough anymore for our possessions to function well, we always want more from the things we own, and this is partly down to our consumerist life styles and social pressures. For example, new mobile phones are constantly being made and sold, not because their predecessors no longer function well, but because its not enough to function well, visual design is as important as how well an object works now - and I know this is true as I wouldn't have purchased my guitar if it didn't look exactly like it did.

Why are we willing, as soon as we can afford it, to pay extra for things with appealing forms?

Consumerism. We want things that look nice, which don't necessarily function well, i.e. I could have bought a better functioning guitar than the one above for the same price, but it wouldn't have had such an attractive design - and truth be told if I had looked elsewhere I could have bought it for cheaper, I saw it, loved it, then bought it - without looking around first. Buying on impulse happens a lot, which is why so many things have attractive designs over function.