An article in the AJC talks about a research study done by scientists from Yale University which tested the saying, “cold hands, warm heart.” They performed two separate studies. In the first study, the scientists recruited forty one college students for the experiment and each of them were casually asked to hold a cup of either warm coffee or cold coffee by a lab worker as they were each separately led upstairs to the lab. In the lab, the student was given a depiction of a nonexistent person described as being careful, hardworking, and driven. The student was then asked to rate the person’s personality traits. The results showed that the students holding the cups filled with warm coffee rated the person as more generous, sociable, and good natured than the students holding the cups filled with cold coffee, the traits that were chosen as seen in a “warm” personality. There were no differences among the ratings of the traits that were seen as not associated with a warm or cold personality.
In the second study, fifty three college students were recruited and were told that they would be participating in product testing. They had each of the students hold either a heating pad or an ice pad sold in stores for pain. But the actual test was which reward the students chose for participating in the testing: an ice cream coupon or a water bottle for themselves or one for a friend. The results showed that the students which held the heating pad were more likely to choose a coupon for a friend than the students which held the ice pads. In analyzing the results of the studies, the scientists concluded that very small clues from our surroundings can heavily effect our feelings and behavior.
This article seems pretty viable because it includes the source in which the study was published, “Friday’s edition of the journal Science.” Also, it gives the researchers’ background, saying that they are from Yale University from which the lead researcher was completing his psychology graduate degree, making the research even more believable because it isn’t sponsored by a company selling mittens or something. The one concern I have for the article is that the title might be a little misleading. People might think that they need to hand out hot drinks to make a good impression, but the actual resulting behavior is a lot more subtle than that.
I agree with the methodology that the researchers used; they used deception and an actual lab study. The article claims that this study was “sneaky,” but I believe that deception was necessary to acquire reliable results. If they had told the students what they were actually testing, the results would have probably been skewed since it is human nature to pick what is socially acceptable. For instance, in the second study, if the students were told that the actual aspect that was being tested was based on what trinket they chose, they might have all chosen to give a friend a coupon. A lab study was necessary for this research as opposed to a survey or questionnaire, because what would they even put on a survey? “Do you feel nicer when you touch warm things…?” I feel like the lab study was the best way to receive reliable results. Also, I believe it was a good thing that they did two separate studies and were consistent within the two separate studies; in each study they used random college students as opposed to uneducated individuals for one study and college students for the other, and both of the studies used deception.
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/health/stories/2008/10/24/warmth_psychology_test.html
