Cold shoulders

An interesting article on how our relationships help us feel physically warm, or cold.

From John Davidson's article in the Financial Review "Some hard thoughts on weighty matters" ...

Could it be that figurative coldness and actual coldness are somehow intertwined? Do "the cold shoulder", the "cold heart", the "frosty stare" ...actually make us feel physically cold? ... It turns out that the answer to all those questions might be yes"

The article relates various experiments that indicate how our perception of closeness, or social isolation will leave us feeling warmer (if we have a perception of closeness), or physically cold (if we're feeling socially isolated).

It's all part of what some cognitive scientists call "embodied cognition": the intertwining of the mind and the body in ways that we're often not aware of.

This ties in with other research showing the influence of social connections on wellbeing.

More soon.