River: Warmth: apparently it's not just a metaphor

[mdlbear]

According to an article in the October 24th issue of Science Magazine (p. 606) titled "Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth", people holding a warm cup of coffee are more likely to judge the person they're interacting with as having a warm personality than people holding a cup of iced coffee. People touching a warm object are more likely than people touching a cold object to give a gift to a friend rather than treat themselves.

I'm not sure which I find more weird: that there is, somehow, a reason why we use the same word for these two seemingly disparate concepts, or that Colleen doesn't find it weird at all.

In any case, I think I'll make myself a cup of hot ginger tea.

(ETA: Colleen and the article both point out the association between physical warmth and comfort, and the care a mother gives her infant. That is, indeed, the likely connection. I still find the linguistic association surprising. The fact that Colleen picked up on it instantly while I can only make the connection intellectually is, of course, not surprising in the least, but I find it vaguely disturbing.)

Comments

[septemberlilac.livejournal.com]

Now that it's mentioned, I can see the connection but it wasn't an association I'd have made on my own. But then, I like iced tea...

[elf]

I believe ozarque mentioned once (maybe in one of her books) that a word for "pain" for both emotional and physical distress is nearly universal as well.

[mdlbear]

You're right. I wonder why I don't have any trouble seeing that connection, but I do have trouble with "warmth".

[moshez.livejournal.com]

It is also apparently the same mechanism in the brain. The higher-level emotional parts developed later, and repurposed the pain part.

[mdlbear]

Makes sense.

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

In my ex-boss's Neuroscience class, he pointed out that the taste and temperature receptors in the tongue for Hot = Spicy and Hot = Hi Temp. are the same.

Personally, I think there's something else going on as well, since as I grow older, I can still accommodate almost all the spicy tolerance that I cultivated in my youth (yes, it was very akin to athletic training); but fresh-from-the-oven temperatures Hurt! until the food cools off to merely hot-to-warm.

Another thing that I learned in that class was the 5th taste, "Umami," in addition to Sweet/Sour/Salty/Bitter. Umami is a receptor for the glutamate ion (as in monosodium glutamate).

[mdlbear]

The receptors for "cool" and "mint" are also the same, hence menthol cough drops and so on.

[zencuppa.livejournal.com]

Hmm . . This makes a lot of sense to me. Working alone is continues getting easier, but sometimes I *ache* for a hot drink.

Maybe it's a replacement for office chatter *curious look.* (but not office politics, mind you *grin.*)

Idea Fairy speculated

[capplor.livejournal.com]

(and I'm not going to bother with tags; you know who I mean) that the connection between heat and affection only exists because we are warm-blooded creatures. Most of us live in cooler places than where humans are believed to have evolved. Being close IS sharing heat, and heat is something we're often short of.

Re: Idea Fairy speculated

[mdlbear]

Reptiles control their body temperature by seeking out warmer or cooler places, so warmth might be associated with well-being even if it wasn't associated with other reptiles.