We all like to think of ourselves as rational actors, but irrational influences on our decision-making are more common than we realize. For example, it turns out that tactile sensations can have a strong influence on our decisions. Joshua Ackermanat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been studying this with colleagues and they've performed a number of tests to see how touch influences our judgments.
In one test, passers-by were asked to judge a job candidate by looking at their resume. Half were given the resume on a heavy clipboard, the rest were handed it on a light clipboard. When asked to rate the seriousness of the candidate on a scale of 1 to 9, those with the heavy clipboard judged the candidate as more serious than those with the light...
In another task, volunteers who sat on a hard seat were less willing to change their price in a hypothetical car purchase than those sitting in a soft seat.
The authors suggest that our use of tactile concepts in metaphors that relate to behaviour, such as having a "rough" day or being "solid" as a rock, might influence our judgement: touching similar textures reminds us of their linguistic links to behaviour.
Source: New Scientist, July 3, 2010
It would be impossible to account for and counter every possible non-rational influence on our decision-making, but it's useful to at least be aware of what's influencing us. If you're buying something and are offered a comfortable seat, maybe you should decline and stand instead. If someone hands you papers, consider their physical weight before weighing the merits of what you read.
Do you suppose that the weight of religious texts helps influence people into thinking that their contents are more "serious" and should be taken more seriously? Perhaps it's not a coincidence that religious texts tend to come in single large collections instead of multiple, smaller, lighter volumes. Do you think you've ever had your judgement or decision-making influenced by tactile sensations?
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