It’s an old saying that cold hands equal a warm heart. But a new study suggests you’re better off giving a warm handshake to someone you’re trying to impress. People who have their hands warmed—for example, by holding a cup of hot coffee—are kinder and more generous toward others and view other people in a more flattering light than they do after holding an icy-cold beverage, according to a study in Science.
Don’t laugh. Although it seems like a deceptively simple—even silly—finding, the researchers say the study sheds light on a part of the brain known as the insula, which registers temperature and feelings of trust and empathy, as well as social emotions like guilt or embarrassment.
Our brains may be hardwired during infancy to associate warmth with trustworthiness, says John Bargh, PhD, a professor of psychology at Yale University who conducted the study with Lawrence Williams, PhD, from the University of Colorado.
“We have this almost direct connection in our brain between touching and physical temperature and trust in other people,” he says.
That connection was probably forged during infancy, or even during evolution, when having a tight bond to a caregiver could have been the difference between life and death.
“When you’re tiny and helpless, the ones that keep close to food-giving and warmth-giving and shelter-giving caretakers survive, and the ones who don’t, do not,” he says.
And when something goes wrong with the insula, it may affect the way we interact with others. There’s some research to suggest this happens in people with borderline personality disorder, a type of mental illness, Bargh explains.
“They can’t deal with anyone else, they don’t know who to trust, and they trust the wrong people,” he says.
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