How The Sense Of Touch Informs Your Judgments

Researchers have found that tactile cues help to influence the way we perceive things. The study, conducted by psychologists from Harvard and Yale and an MIT marketing professor, shows that the physical properties of objects provide “a specific tie to certain abstract meanings.” Participants in the study who held a heavy clipboard, for example, viewed people and issues as more serious than those holding a light clipboard. Subjects who touched rough puzzle pieces “rated a neutral social interaction as being more difficult or harsh, compared with people who handled smooth puzzle pieces.” And touching or sitting on hard objects evoked associations with rigidity and relentlessness, characteristics which are also true of my cock.