You’ve probably heard the expression, “Cold hands, warm heart” before, and wouldn’t you know it science has just proven the opposite to be true! I’m quite disappointed, being someone who often has cold hands I used this saying a lot, but lets look at what the new research has found…
Two studies involving researchers at Yale University and the University of Colorado at Boulder assessed how temperature affects feelings.
Warm physical contact has long been rated as important by psychologists, and with this in mind, co-authors John A. Bargh and Lawrence E. Williams decided to test the impact of physical warmth on the perceptions of adults.
Recent brain imaging studies have supported the idea that temperature has a power to trigger strong activity in the insular cortex.
With that in mind, the authors conducted the first experiment by having a research assistant (who was ignorant of the test being conducted) casually ask college age participants to hold either a warm coffee or an ice coffee during the elevator ride to the test site.
Once the subject arrived, they were given a packet of information and told to rate a hypothetical person.
Those who held the warm drink rated the pretend person as warmer than those who’d held the cold coffee drink.
It seems holding warmer things makes us view others more favorably… what’s more it might even make people more generous.
A second experiment involved subjects being asked to hold either a hot or cold therapeutic pad.
The participants thought they were evaluating the pads, but at the end of the “test” they were asked to choose a reward for themselves, or something for a friend.
Continues below…
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How Warmth And Cold Might Effect Your Perceptions continued
Those who’d held the warm pad were more likely to choose a reward for their pal.
This is really quite an amazing result, showing that if your hands are warmer you’re more likely to be open and receptive to others and do ‘good deeds’.
“It appears that the effect of physical temperature is not just on how we see others, it affects our own behavior as well,” says Bargh, professor of psychology at Yale University. “Physical warmth can make us see others as warmer people, but also cause us to be warmer – more generous and trusting – as well.”
Although it’s not clear why warmer hands give a person a warmer disposition, this is one old wives tale that has been well and truly busted!
