Weight as an embodiment of importance.
Four studies show that the abstract concept of importance is grounded in bodily experiences of weight. Participants provided judgments of importance while they held either a heavy or a light clipboard. Holding a heavy clipboard increased judgments of monetary value (Study 1) and made participants consider fair decision-making procedures to be more important (Study 2). It also caused more elaborate thinking, as indicated by higher consistency between related judgments (Study 3) and by greater polarization of agreement ratings for strong versus weak arguments (Study 4). In line with an embodied perspective on cognition, these findings suggest that, much as weight makes people invest more physical effort in dealing with concrete objects, it also makes people invest more cognitive effort in dealing with abstract issues.
Jostmann
Nils B
NB
University of Amsterdam, 1081 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. n.b.jostmann@uva.nl
Lakens
Daniël
D
Schubert
Thomas W
TW
D003210:Concept Formation; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D011340:Problem Solving; D012945:Social Values; D014892:Weight Perception; D055815:Young Adult