Why Do
We Say That Someone Is “Hot”?
Scientists are discovering the primal links between
physical warmth and our emotions
What do a chilly reception, a cold-blooded murder, and an
icy stare have in common? Each plumbs the bulb of what could be called your
social thermometer, exposing our reflexive tendency to conflate social
judgments—estimations of another’s trust and intent — with the perception of
temperature. Decades of fascinating cross-disciplinary studies have illuminated
the surprising speed, pervasiveness and neurobiology of this unconscious
mingling of the personal and the thermal.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-do-we-say-someone-is-hot
