Feeling Cold and Lonely?

Have you ever walked into a party, didn’t know anyone, and felt the air get colder? We’ve long paired feelings of social rejection or isolation with coldness - think "chilly reception," "cold shoulder" or an "icy stare," while someone else might have a "warm smile."

Feelings of being lonely and cold have long been lumped together. Take the song "Lonely this Christmas" from the 1970s. A recent paper suggests there’s something to that.

Chen-Bo Zhong is a social psychologist at the University of Toronto. He heard "Lonely this Christmas" and decided to investigate. He’s the lead author on a study that appears in the journal Psychological Science. In another project, he discussed how metaphors such as “dirty hands” or “clean records” show a connection between morality and physical cleanliness. We called him to find out more about the growing body of research referred to as "embodied cognition."

(Photo by peter.ca)