UX design - Questioning whether "Attractive things work better"

One of the pioneers in the fields of design and usability, Donald Norman, published an article with the title "Attractive things work better". According to a research paper that was mentioned inside the article, aesthetically pleasing ATM layouts were rated as more usable. We will take a more suspicious look at the relationship between the aesthetics and the usability. We will question what comes first. Link to the article: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/202165712_Emotion_Design_Attractive_Things_Work_Better