Whoa, This Is Heavy
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Marty McFly: Whoa, this is heavy.
Dr. Emmett Brown: There’s that word again; “heavy”. Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth’s gravitational pull?
When we say something is “weighty” — or, in Eighties parlance, “heavy” — we mean that it’s important. But just how literally do we take this figure of speech?
Doc Brown couldn’t help but take it extremely literally. What about us?
According to a new study, we take it quite literally indeed. In “Weight as an Embodiment of Importance” (abstract), in the new issue of Psychological Science, we learn that “the abstract concept of importance is grounded in bodily experiences of weight.”
How do we learn this? Here’s Mind Hacks:
A research team found that they could alter people’s judgement of importance just by getting them to answer questions using a heavier clipboard.
In a series of short elegant experiments, a research team led by psychologist Nils Jostmann found that people holding a heavy clipboard would, for example, value foreign currencies more highly than those using a lighter clipboard.
Of course, this might be because of the simple association that larger amounts of money weigh more, so they looked at whether more abstract judgements about value could be affected by weight.
Subsequent studies showed that heavier clipboards led to participants placing more importance on the university listening to student opinions, and that participants were more likely to link their opinion of whether Amsterdam was a great city to the competence of the mayor.
A final study found that visitors who were stopped in the street and asked their opinion on a controversial subway were more confident in their opinion and were more likely to agree with strong arguments for the plan.
And where does this link come from? Here’s Not Exactly Rocket Science:
Jostmann reasons that the link between weight and importance is rooted in our early childhood experiences, when we rapidly learn that heavy objects require more effort to deal with, not just in terms of strength but planning too. Our brain relies on these concrete physical experiences when it represents more abstract concepts, like importance. The two are then joined, so that physical experiences can affect abstract thought.
Of course, this is far from the only way that we associate physical properties with cognitive states. For instance, it’s also been found that literally “taking a step back,” can improve cognitive control on measures such as the Stroop task. Immoral thoughts can make us want to clean. Thinking about cleanliness can soften our moral judgments. Physical warmth can make us feel emotionally warm; being left out socially can leave us, literally, cold.
Such physical representations of emotional and abstract concepts are a key to forming mental concepts. And there’s only one word for that: Heavy.
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[...] Mental Concepts, Physical Representations, Emotional and Abstract Concepts http://trueslant.com/ryansager/2009/08/27/whoa-this-is-heavy/ [...]
Well that explains a great deal.
For instance how older citizens take politics and life more seriously as they age. They become more decisive because life becomes heavier, literally. Dr. Brown serious.
I am getting close to that Social Security time line and have observed that in every passing year gravitational force has increased. Recently I moved and noticed that the ten year old couch had become far heavier, as did all the furniture. I could hardly get my bed up the stairs. Even my body has gained weight, this is a mystery that should be studied because if it continues I may find myself shorter, crouched over and in need of a cane to keep myself from being sucked into the ground and so serious about life that I would fear for my very existence.
[...] On: Whoa, This Is Heavy [...]
[...] http://trueslant.com/ryansager/2009/08/27/whoa-this-is-heavy/ [...]
[...] Heavy things are important! True story. [...]
[...] another example of how our brains tie physical concepts to mental concepts — such as the heaviness of an object to the concept of importance or weightiness. And also an example of embodied attitudes, where our physical actions (like smiling) can affect [...]
[...] and affected by, physical metaphors. In particular, we discussed a study showing that people take the concept of something being “heavy” or “weighty” (in the sense of being i…. It’s also been found that literally “taking a step back,” can improve cognitive control on [...]
[...] are intimately linked to how we understand more abstract concepts, such as something being serious or heavy, or a person being emotionally warm or [...]
[...] looked at the embodied cognition of an issue being “heavy” here. We look at cleanliness and morality here. We looked at warm rooms and warm people here. We look at [...]