Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth
Williams and Bargh reported two experiments connecting physical temperature to social judgment. In the first, participants who had briefly held a cup of hot coffee rather than iced coffee rated a stranger described in a short profile as having a warmer personality, more generous and caring. In the second, participants holding a hot therapeutic pad rather than a cold one were more likely to choose a gift for a friend than for themselves. The reasoning behind it was that physical warmth and interpersonal trust appear to involve overlapping brain regions, and that experiences of one might therefore influence the other outside awareness. The study became one of the most cited demonstrations of embodied cognition. One thing must be said on this page: a later replication attempt with much larger samples and double-blind procedures found essentially no effect in either experiment, and this vault cites that paper alongside this one.
Williams and Bargh reported two experiments connecting physical temperature to social judgment. In the first, participants who had briefly held a cup of hot coffee rather than iced coffee rated a stranger described in a short profile as having a warmer personality, more generous and caring. In the second, participants holding a hot therapeutic pad rather than a cold one were more likely to choose a gift for a friend than for themselves. The reasoning behind it was that physical warmth and interpersonal trust appear to involve overlapping brain regions, and that experiences of one might therefore influence the other outside awareness. The study became one of the most cited demonstrations of embodied cognition. One thing must be said on this page: a later replication attempt with much larger samples and double-blind procedures found essentially no effect in either experiment, and this vault cites that paper alongside this one.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
Williams, L. E., & Bargh, J. A. (2008). "Experiencing physical warmth promotes interpersonal warmth." Science, 322(5901), 606-607. Study 1 N = 41, M = 4.71 vs 4.25 on a 1-7 scale, F(1,39) = 4.08, P = 0.05. Study 2 N = 53, the result being a two-way interaction with no main effects.
Where we use it
- What Forty-One Participants Buys, Why We Look
Reliability of this reference
The link below was matched against the publisher's record on title, first author and year, and all three agree.
The source
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1162548
DOI: 10.1126/science.1162548