Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T07:05:17.818Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Subtle variation in ambient room temperature influences the expression of social cognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2013

Jacob M. Vigil
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico; Albuquerque, NM 87131-1161. vigilJ@unm.eduhttp://psych.unm.edu/people/directory-profiles/jacob-m.-vigil.htmllnrowell@unm.edu
Tyler J. Swartz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224-2673. tjs03e@gmail.com
Lauren N. Rowell
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico; Albuquerque, NM 87131-1161. vigilJ@unm.eduhttp://psych.unm.edu/people/directory-profiles/jacob-m.-vigil.htmllnrowell@unm.edu

Abstract

Social signaling models predict that subtle variation in climatic temperature induces systematic changes in expressed cognition. An experiment showed that perceived room temperature was associated with variability in self-descriptions, social reactions of others, and desiring differing types of social networks. The findings reflect the tendency to inflate capacity demonstrations in warmer climates as a result of the social networking opportunities they enable.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambady, N. & Rosenthal, R. (1992) Thin slices of expressive behavior as predictors of interpersonal consequences: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 111:256–74.Google Scholar
Anderson, C. A. (2001) Heat and violence. Current Directions in Psychological Science 10:3338.Google Scholar
Cohn, E. G. (1993) The prediction of police calls for service: The influence of weather and temporal variables on rape and domestic violence. Journal of Environmental Psychology 13:7183.Google Scholar
Hancock, P. A. (1986) Sustained attention under thermal stress. Psychological Bulletin 99:263–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larrick, R. P., Timmerman, T. A., Carton, A. M. & Abrevaya, J. (2011) Temper, temperature, and temptation. Heat-related retaliation in baseball. Psychological Science 22:423–28.Google Scholar
Vigil, J. M. (2009) A socio-relational framework of sex differences in the expression of emotion. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32:375428.Google Scholar
Zhong, C. B. & Leonardelli, G. J. (2008) Cold and lonely: Does social exclusion literally feel cold? Psychological Science 19:838–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed