Scientists at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom have determined that you can feel a chill come over you just by watching other people put their hands in ice-cold water. Much like yawning can be contagious, the researchers say that humans are susceptible to “temperature contagion,” meaning that a person can experience an actual drop in body temperature as a reaction to watching a video in which other people experience cold sensations.
Shivering in solidarity:
Neuropsychiatrist Neil Harrison, who led the research, suggests that watching others experience extreme conditions triggers feelings of empathy, as well as unconscious physiological changes.
After watching the videos, the test subjects’ body temperatures dropped by a small but statistically significant amount: 0.4 °F (0.2 °C) in their left hands, and 0.1 °F (0.05 °C) in their right.
This study builds on previous research that detected similar unconscious human responses to “emotional contagions” such as loneliness, laughter, and stress.
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