Social isolation is often described as “cold and lonely” — but does it actually feel cold?
New research says the answer is yes. Just thinking about rejection can make a room feel chillier, according to a report in the journal Psychological Science.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto, also found people who felt isolated preferred warm drinks over cold ones — presumably to make themselves feel better.
The research shows there is a psychological basis behind metaphors linking cold temperatures to feelings of loneliness, despair or sadness, said psychologist and lead author Chen-Bo Zhong.
“Our mind is not independent of our body,” he said. “Perceptions we think of as purely cognitive also involve physical perceptions.”
The initial experiment involved 65 subjects. Half were instructed to think about a time when they felt socially isolated, while remaining subjects were told to recall a time when they felt accepted.
When asked to estimate the temperature of the room, people assigned to ruminate about rejection said 71 degrees, about 5 degrees cooler than the temperature given by the second group.
In a second experiment, researchers rigged a virtual ball- tossing game so that some of the 52 players would receive the ball only twice. Afterward, subjects were asked to rate their desire for hot coffee, hot soup or an icy Coke. Subjects who had been shut out of the game showed a greater preference for hot liquids than those who were not.
Lawrence E. Williams Jr., an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business who studies temperature and emotion, said the association is thought to have its roots in infancy, when the physical sensation of warmth that comes from being held is connected to being loved.
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a psychologist at Ohio State University who was not involved in the research, said the feeling of cold might be the body’s reaction to stress caused by social isolation. When people become tense, their peripheral blood vessels contract, cooling the skin, she said.
