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

[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.