Warm Hands, Nonjudgmental Brain

Oct. 23, 2008 — -- Think your first impression of a person is always right? A small study out of Yale University has found that a person's first impression may have little to do with character and more to do with coincidental physical comforts, like holding a warm cup of coffee.

To measure this, an undercover researcher asked 41 test subjects to hold his cup of coffee (either iced or hot) in the elevator on the way to a test room so he could write a name on a clipboard.

Later, during the formal study, test subjects were asked to evaluate a hypothetical person who had "neutral" characteristics such as cautious, determined and industrious.

Statistically, women and men judged the hypothetical person in similar ways. But those who were asked to hold the iced coffee gave more negative or "cold" attributes like selfishness to the person, while those who held the warm cup of coffee rated the same person with "warm" attributes like generosity.

The study may gives a clue on whether to get coffee or cold drinks for a first date, but it also adds yet another connection between our physical comfort and how people judge social interactions.

"In psychology we tend to underestimate the influence of the physical environments on our thoughts," said Lawrence Williams, a co-author on the study.

In a second study, Williams and professor John Bargh of Yale University, his co-author, gave 53 test subjects hot or cold packs to evaluate under the guise of a product study.

Afterward, the group touching the cold packs were more likely to act "cold-hearted" by choosing a small giveaway prize for themselves, while the group touching the hot pack was more likely to choose a giveaway gift certificate for a friend.

"These fundamental physical influences on people matter. ... Our bodily experiences matter in terms of our state of mind," said Williams, who is now an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Colorado at Boulder.