There’s a very popular idea floating around the psychology community that temperature effects perception; it’s the idea that physically being warm could make you mentally perceive that someone else has a warm personality.This has been tested in a variety of different scenarios. Some participants were casually asked to hold a hot coffee or iced coffee, while the tester retrieved the survey from his brief case. Others were confronted with a warm or cold room where they filled out forms and a few shook hands with cold handed and warm handed strangers. As far as reporting goes, in magazines and blogs, all of the tests seem to be conclusive. Of course, the studies that didn’t find the same results probably wouldn’t be a very interesting read and no one would hear about them. Personally, I’m a little skeptical; but it doesn’t help that I performed the test my self with very dull results.
The idea, though, is fascinating. How words in languages that are used to describe temperature are also used to describe people’s personalities; they are these very tangible words that are used to describe abstract things. I’m especially curious of how many different languages use this type of concrete to abstract communication, but I have no idea how to find that out.
I’m also curious how significant the difference is. Say you’re doing a business transaction in Cancun rather than Sweden. Would the one in the warm country go more smoothly with better communication and results? Do honey moons in cold locations stir more conflict in the relationship than those in a warm location? How far does the knowledge reach into real world applications?
I don’t have an answer- it was a rhetorical question.
No comments:
Post a Comment