SSS 2012-05-09

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Jack¹ Nicholson, playing the crazed caretaker in The Shining, makes me reach for a blanket. Now a study finds that people we find, well, creepy can actually make us feel colder. The research will be published in the journalPsychological Science. 

 

Researchers interviewed 40 college undergraduates. During each interaction, the experimenter was either chummy with the student or very stiff and professional. The investigator² also alternated between mimicking³ students’ posture—a signal of rapport—and not doing anything at all.

 

Participants then completed a questionnaire designed to find out how hot or cold they felt. The results showed that the subjects actually felt colder when the investigator acted inappropriately or sent mixed signals.

 

The researchers conjecture⁴ that because the brain tries to interpret social cues and purely⁵ physical ones simultaneously⁶, people unconsciously associate icy stares and chilly⁷ interactions with actual physical coldness.

 

So the next time you have to visit your doctor with the creepy receptionist, bring a sweater.

 

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American 60 Second Science, I am Amy Kraft.

 

chummy: quite friendly

 

rapport: relation marked by harmony, conformity

 

conjecture: a conclusion deduced by surmise or guesswork

 

receptionist: a person employed to greet telephone callers, visitors, patients, or clients

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