Temperature and Perceived Closeness

Temperature and Perceived Closeness

Reviewed by Faisal Zaidi

The finding, in three experiments, that warmer conditions created with warm beverages or comfortably warm rooms raised perceived social closeness and concrete language.

What it is

It concerns how near people feel and how they describe relationships, a separate outcome from kindness. It is drawn from work by Hans IJzerman and Gun Semin (2009).

In effect

In the article on whether a warm drink makes us kinder,, it serves as a related line of work with its own evidence.

What it does not say

It concerns how near people feel and how they describe relationships. It is not about kindness or gift choice, and its link to the warm-cup claim is one of topic and not of result.

Sources

  1. IJzerman, H., & Semin, G. R. (2009). The thermometer of social relations: Mapping social proximity on temperature. Psychological Science, 20(10), 1214-1220.