Correlation of Warmth and Loneliness

Faculty Sponsor

Jennifer Winquist

College

Arts and Sciences

Discipline(s)

Psychology

ORCID Identifier(s)

orcid.org/0000-0002-5697-6462

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Symposium Date

Spring 4-23-2016

Abstract

My Research Methods course spent the semester studying the association between loneliness and physical warmth. We decided to replicate two studies by Bargh and Shalev (2011) in which they found that people feel less lonely when they are physically warm. In one study, we measured physical warmth and loneliness and did not replicate Bargh and Shalev's finding that loneliness is associated with warmth. In a second study, we manipulated warmth. One hundred and forty participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group held a warm pack for one minute and the other group held a cold pack for one minute. All participants completed a product evaluation of the hot/cold pack. Then, all participants completed a measure of loneliness. Previous research found that participants who held a warm pack felt less lonely than those who held a cold pack. Our results did not support this finding.

Biographical Information about Author(s)

My professor, Jennifer Winquist, showed our class Bargh and Shalev's study at the beginning of the spring semester. We have been studying and researching the correlation of warmth and loneliness for the past few months. I was really intrigued by the research and was excited to create an experiment with my class to replicate the original study. The goal of this experiment is to discover and test the correlation of warmth and loneliness. If I have the opportunity to continue exploring this concept, I will.

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