Keep Shoppers Cool for Critical Thinking

“Cold hard logic.” This classic phrase suggests a relationship between lower temperatures and rigorous reasoning.
     Consumer behavior studies verify the relationship. Researchers at University of Virginia and University of Houston say the link is attributable to warmth-induced laziness. When the temperature rises, people seek shortcuts. One example of this the researchers discovered was a decreased willingness of consumers to take on complex gambles.
     Further, when consumers are cold, they seek warmth—both physical and emotional. Researchers at University of Colorado-Boulder and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology found that study participants who drank cold tea were more likely than those who drank warm tea to subsequently choose a romance movie over other sorts of movies. Similarly, when another set of study participants were asked to sit in a room that was cold, this increased the tendency to select a romance movie.
     Next, the researchers, wanting to plot out all the relationships between cold and romance, matched the dates of customers’ DVD rental records with the data on temperatures around the time of the rental. Sure enough, when it was cold, there was a shift from the horror flicks toward the romantic ones. I guess the enhanced chances of getting a bear hug when watching the creature features wasn’t enough to compensate for the shivers up the spine.
     The researchers note the connection between love and warm feelings in our songs and poems. When people feel cold, they like to be blanketed with romance.
     Studies at Purdue University, Tilburg University, VU University, and University of Milano-Bicocca indicate this is because lonely people are, in fact, physically colder. Experimental subjects who were rejected as suitable partners in a game showed reduced body temperatures, and lonely people reported feeling more comfortable when asked to hold a cup of warm tea or coffee.
     Researchers at NUS Business School in Singapore and University of Florida-Gainesville postulate all this is due to lonely consumers being mammals. From when mammals are very young, any sign of negative emotions produces a desire to be held close to get warmed up.
     In our northern hemisphere, the “lonely customer” effect is greatest as we approach the Christmas holidays, both because the weather is colder and because relations among family and friends gain prominence.
     If you’re wanting customers to depend on emotions, warm them up. But if you prefer cold hard logic, delay your professional-grade romancing for a while.

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