温暖的“冷”：消极情景下物理冷感促进人际温情

科学家们曾惊奇地发现，仅仅触摸温热的物体就能引发对他人的温情（友善）行为，比如对他人的人格评价更加积极，或者更愿意把礼物送给朋友而不是留给自己。2008年的《科学》杂志（Science）上刊登了上述发现。这一研究发现印证了“具身认知理论”（embodied theory），该理论主张：低层次的感觉经验可以影响高层次的抽象认知及行为。但是，这一研究只说出了故事的一小半。近期，北京大学心理学系的王垒教授领导的研究团队发现，物理冷刺激也可以促发人际温情，而物理温热刺激也会导致人际的冷酷！王垒教授的研究团队通过一系列实验表明：触摸了冷物体的人（相对于触摸了热物体的人），对同伴的不诚实行为更能谅解，对提供过较差服务的人更愿意帮助，在嘈杂的排队环境下表现出更少的抱怨。这一系列反常识的结果揭示出了社会情景在物理冷暖体验和人际态度行为之间的关系中所扮演的重要角色：这一发现刷新了对具身认知理论的理解。他们的工作发表在最新一期的英国社会心理学杂志（British Journal of Social Psychology）。

怎样理解这个看似矛盾的现象呢？北京大学的心理学家们提出，社会/任务情境/背景会调节物理温度与人际过程之间的关系。他们认为，在不同的社会背景下，物理暖/冷与心理近/远的联结含义是不同的。在合作和帮助的社会背景下，人们对物理暖的体验是积极的，对物理冷的体验是消极的。相反，在不协调或有敌意的社会/任务情境下，对物理暖的体验可能是消极的，而对物理冷的体验可能是积极的。所以，在积极的社会/任务情境下，物理暖（相对于物理冷）会引发人际温情，但在消极的社会/任务情境下，物理暖（相对于物理冷）则会阻滞人际温情。这项研究通过强调社会/任务情境与物理温度对人际行为的交互影响，使得人们对低层次感觉经验和高层次抽象认知这两者的关系的理解更加完整和全面。这项研究的新奇和重要之处在于它对现有知识的挑战，它揭示了尚未被人们知晓的故事的另一半：体验物理的冷也能促发人际温情。

这项研究有丰富的实践意义。它可以帮助人们在友好或冲突的社会/任务情境中调整行为应对策略。为了促进人际的温情，人们可以依据社会/任务情境来创造相应的温度线索。例如，在慈善捐款会上，会场应布置得暖洋洋，再配合热腾腾的餐饮等，就可能促进更多的帮助（捐赠）行为。相反，在一些有潜在冲突的社会/任务情境下，应该尽量避免物理热刺激。实践者可以把冲突人群暴露在物理冷的环境下，从而让他们更容易冷静下来。例如，冲突性谈判桌上的一杯冰水要好过一杯热咖啡。值得一提的是，该研究表明，触摸热/冷杯子也可能会影响法庭上陪审团/法官的判断。

Wenqi Wei, Jingjing Ma, & Lei Wang. (2015). The ‘warm’ side of coldness: Cold promotes interpersonal warmth in negative contexts. British Journal of Social Psychology, DOI:10.1111/bjso.12108.

The ‘Warm’ Side of Coldness: Cold Promotes Interpersonal Warmth in Negative Contexts

It is amazing that merely holding warm objects can increase individuals’ interpersonal warmth, which induces behaviors such as giving more positive judgment about others and being more likely to choose gifts for friends rather than for themselves. Such findings,published on Science(2008), are consistent with the intuition and the embodied theory, which depicts that low-leveled concrete experiences could influence high-leveled abstract cognitions and behaviors.However, this is only a small part of the story!Recently, professor Lei Wang and his research group from the Department of Psychology at Peking University found that physical coldness could also promote interpersonal warmth while physical warmth may also lead to interpersonal coldness. They conducted a series of experiments to show that participants touching cold objects were more willing to forgive a peer’s dishonest behavior, more likely to assist an individual who had provided them with poor service, and less likely to complain in an annoying queue. These counter-intuitive findings addressed the important role of socialcontext in the relationship between physical experience and interpersonal attitude and behavior, as well asrefreshed currentknowledge about the embodied theory. Their work is published on the latest issue of British Journal of Social Psychology.

How to understand the above paradoxical phenomena? These psychologists from Peking Universityproposed that social context would moderate the link between physical temperature and interpersonal processes. They argued that the meaning of physical warmth/coldness and its association with psychological closeness/distance might vary under different social contexts. In a cooperative or helping context, the experience of physical warmth is positive, while the experience of coldness is negative. On the contrary, in an inconsiderate or hostile context, the experience of physical warmth may be negative while that of coldness may be positive. Therefore, physical warmth (compared to coldness) would promote interpersonal warmth in positive social contexts. In negative social contexts, however, physical warmth (compared to coldness) would hinder interpersonal warmth. Thus, by emphasizing the interactive effect of social context and temperature on interpersonal outcomes, the current research provided a more complete picture regarding the well-established link between concrete experiences and abstract, high-level processes. It’s particularly interesting and important that this research challenges the current knowledge. It uncovers a previously unknown phenomenon, that is, the other half of the story: experiencing physical coldness can also promote interpersonal warmth.

This research has substantial practical implications. It can help people adjust their strategy and behavior to cope with friendly or conflictive social situations. To promote interpersonal warmth, practitioners can create or use temperature cues according to social context. For instance, at a charitable donation party, physical warmth provided by a warm ambient temperature, hot beverages and food and so on may promote more helping behavior. On the other hand, in situations of potential conflict, practitionersshould avoid physical warmth. Instead, they could expose individuals to physical coldness, so as to calm them down and thus facilitate more favorable interpersonal interactions. For example, a cup of ice water might be a better choice than a cup of hot coffee on a negotiation table. It is also worth reminding that touching hot versus cold beverage cup in court may influence the judgment of juries.

Wenqi Wei, Jingjing Ma, & Lei Wang. (2015). The ‘warm’ side of coldness: Cold promotes interpersonal warmth in negative contexts.British Journal of Social Psychology, DOI:10.1111/bjso.12108.

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2015-04-10