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Connecting the Dots Between Physical & Interpersonal Warmth What does it mean to perceive a person as warm versus cold? Think for a moment about your use of these terms in your own daily language and communication with others. According to research in social cognition, interpersonal warmth refers to traits that are related to perceived favorability of the other person’s intentions toward us. These often include friendliness, trustworthiness, and helpfulness. In making social judgments, warmth is a powerful personality trait. Warm and cold as personality traits are often used in our first impressions of people, revealing our interpersonal liking of others and reflecting the concept of social perception. In making an initial impression of someone, we will often make statements such as “He seemed rather cold and distant” or conversely “He seemed friendly and warm.” Such assertions reflect the negative (cold) and positive (warm) connotations we often associate with these two words. This may be a case of conceptualizing our internal, mental world by analogy to our physical world. So rather than say outright “He didn’t seem trustworthy” we might instead make the statement, “He’s cold.” That’s because abstract psychological concepts may be easier to explain metaphorically based on what we actually experience in our own physical world. Experiences of physical warmth can activate concepts of interpersonal warmth. That is because normal development gives us a close mental association between the concepts of physical warmth and psychological warmth. The classic studies on maternal-infant bonding that Harry Harlow performed with monkeys, and the work of attachment theorist John Bowlby revealed an innate need for contact comfort and direct physical contact with the caretaker. Maintaining closeness to our caretakers during infancy was not only critical for our survival but accounts for why we have a close mental connection of the concept of physical warmth and psychological warmth. Thus, feelings of psychological warmth and trust have a link to temperature sensation. For example, if you are exposed to cold, which may be uncomfortable, you might be more likely to think of yourself. This seems natural, as we all like feeling comfortable. If you’re warm in a comfortable way, you might be more inclined to think about others because your need for physical warmth is met. According to a study by Yale psychologists Williams and Bargh (2008), the warm-cold dimension is a social perception assessment, a “first-pass” test that we make as perceivers, determining whether the individual can be trusted as a friend or non-foe (warm), or is instead someone who might try to interfere with our goals and pursuits (cold). The researchers suggest how the effect of physical temperature isn’t just about how we see others, but it affects our behavior as well. Physical warmth can make us see other people as warmer and can also cause us to be warmer in terms of being more generous and trusting. Can holding a cup of hot coffee change your attitude toward a stranger? In the Williams and Bargh study, research participants who briefly held a cup of hot (versus iced) coffee were more likely to judge a target person as having warmer personality traits than participants who briefly held an iced coffee. Brain imaging studies reveal how the experience of hot or cold stimulus triggers strong activity in the insular cortex of our brains. The insular cortex has a variety of functions including being linked to our emotions and maintaining our body’s homeostasis. According to Williams’ and Bargh’s research, the insula is also linked to feelings of trust, empathy, and social emotions, such as guilt and embarrassment. They observed that the insula becomes more activated after social exclusion or rejection. They also noted how people with borderline personality disorder, who are less trusting of others and often display an inability to cooperate, showed a different responsiveness in the anterior insula to trustworthy vs. untrustworthy behavior. The bottomline is that experiences of physical warmth activate concepts of interpersonal warmth, so people are more likely to trust other people when they experience physical warmth. They are also more likely to perceive them as helpful and friendly. Gotta go----I’m making a run to Starbucks! Williams, L., & Bargh (2008). Experiencing physical warmth promotes interpersonal warmth. Science. (New York, NY), 322 (5901). 606-7.