THE cold shoulder and icy stare may be metaphors for social isolation, but does being frozen out actually make you feel colder?
To find out, psychologists and Geoffrey Leonardelli at the University of Toronto, Canada, asked 30 people to recall an experience in which they had been socially excluded, and the same number to think about an inclusive experience. Immediately afterwards, all the volunteers were asked to estimate the temperature of the room: they were told this was to help maintenance staff. The room was actually 24 °C, but the group that thought about isolation guessed it…
