Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth
Christopher Philip
A warm cup of Joe promotes a warm reception. This according to research published in Science. In their research, they found that the simple effect of holding a cup of coffee to warm the hand before contact can influence our judgments about others.
The relative “warmth” or “coldness” of others is referenced throughout our common language. We say “She had a warm personality”, “I was boiling mad”, or “He had an icy stare”, “She’s a frigid b—-” or “I was frozen with fear.” Having a warm and loving personality is one of the first things we notice about people – if they are blessed to have one. We ascribe positive feelings to warmth such as helpfulness, nurturing, trustworthiness, friendliness. Whereas people with cold personalities, the opposite. We find them off putting, vulgar, abrasive and disagreeable.
A classic study on warmth by Harlow and Zimmerman in 1959 showed that macaque monkeys, deprived of their real mothers, would much rather spend time with a warm cloth rather than a wire mother – even when the wire mother provided food.
The Experiment
In the present study, Williams and Bargh sought to measure the extent of the warmth versus chill effect with a cleverly devised study. The researchers had subjects hold either an iced coffee or a hot cup of coffee and then rate the personalities of a fictional character. The experimenter met the subjects, 41 in total, in the lobby of a building. He then had the subjects hold either the hot or cold drink by informing them that he needed to write down their names on the clipboard.
After reaching the 4th floor, he handed the participants a brief story about a fictional character and a questionnaire which had them ascribe their perceived feelings about the character.
The subjects who held the warm coffee found the fictional character to have a warmer personality than those who held the cold coffee. The researchers discovered that subjects didn’t find the characters to be nicer overall, rather, that traits of warmth specifically were more likely to be given to the character if they held the warm drink over the cold one.
This is has practical implications. Warm drinks are easy to come-by, and can be used when we wish to create a caring and nurturing impression.
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Resources
Fiske, S.T., Cuddy, A.J., & Glick, P. (2007). Universal Dimensions Of Social Cognition: Warmth And Competence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 7-83.
Harlow, H.F., & Zimmerman, R.R. (1959). Affectional Responses In The Infant Monkey. Science, 130, 421-432.
Williams, L.E., & Bargh, J.A. (2008). Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth. Science, 322, 606-607.
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