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Embodied effects are moderated by situational cues: Warmth, threat, and the desire for affiliation
Author(s) -
Fay Adam J.,
Maner Jon K.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/bjso.12088
Subject(s) - psychology , embodied cognition , situational ethics , social psychology , context (archaeology) , function (biology) , paleontology , artificial intelligence , evolutionary biology , computer science , biology
Recent research demonstrates fundamental links between low‐level bodily states and higher order psychological processes. How those links interact with the surrounding social context, however, is not well‐understood. Findings from two experiments indicate that the psychological link between physical warmth and social affiliation depends on the situation in which the warmth is experienced. Participants who had been primed with physical threat (as compared with control conditions) responded to warmth with stronger increases in affiliative motivation. This effect replicated across different threat and warmth primes. These findings support a view in which physical sensations interact dynamically with aspects of the immediate situation to influence the activation and application of higher order social processes. This view implies that many embodied psychological processes could function to help people respond adaptively to situational threats and opportunities.