Hasta La Ideas

pimg alt=”hard_chair1.jpg” src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/hard_chair1.jpg” width=”468″ height=”351″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pIf you want to convince someone about something, you’d better give them a soft seat./p

pThis is one design implication coming out of a surprising a href=”http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/06/25/heavy-rough-and-hard-%E2%80%93-how-the-things-we-touch-affect-our-judgments-and-decisions/”new set of studies/a that examines the relationship between our sense of touch and our attitudes and decisions. The studies looked at the unconscious associations between aesthetic elements such as texture, hardness, and weight, and found that by exposing subjects to these elements, researchers could elicit different responses to the same social questions and tests./p

pFor example, study participants who sat in a soft seat and were asked to negotiate with a car dealer made far more generous second offers than those who sat in hard seats. The hard seats literally made them more rigid. Similarly, when volunteers were asked to read and evaluate a story about an interaction between a supervisor and an employee, the ones in the hard wooden chairs viewed the boss as stricter and more rigid than the ones who sat in soft, cushioned chairs. In another experiment, participants who had just put together a puzzle with pieces coated in rough sandpaper were more likely to find a story of an ambiguous social interaction to be difficult and adversarial than those who had put together a puzzle made of smooth, varnished pieces. Harsh textures evidently prime us to think harshly. Other related studies have shown correlations between a href=”http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2008/10/26/warm-hands-warm-heart-how-physical-and-emotional-warmth-are-linked/”temperature and social attitudes/a (proving the intrinsic truth behind the phrases “warm fuzzies” and “cold pricklies”), between weight and perceived seriousness, and between a href=”http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/02/08/clean-smells-promote-generosity-and-fair-play-dark-rooms-and-sunglasses-promote-deceit-and-selfishness/””clean smells” and moral behavior/a. /pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/to_change_hearts_and_mindschange_their_chair_16836.asp”(more…)/a
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