Ray of Hope

Hopelessness Increases Preferences for Brighter Lighting

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21209693
AutoresPing Dong (0000-0003-1387-6274, University of Toronto), Xun Huang (0000-0001-7415-3307, Sun Yat-sen University, autor correspondente), Chen-Bo Zhong (0000-0001-5265-1313, University of Toronto)
Ano2015
Volume6
Fascículo1
Páginas84-91
Data de publicação2015-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSocial Psychological and Personality Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1948-5506 • E-ISSN: 1948-5514
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1948550614542344
OpenAlexW2136182417
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas7
Referências citadas39

Does bright lighting seem more desirable when people feel hopeless? Common parlance such as “ ray of hope” depicts an association between hope and the perception of brightness. Building on research in embodied cognition and conceptual metaphor, we examined whether incidental emotion of hopelessness can affect brightness perception, which may influence people’s preference for lighting. Across four studies, we found that people who feel hopeless judge the environment to be darker (Study 1). As a consequence, hopeless people expressed a greater desire for ambient brightness and higher wattage light bulbs (Studies 2 and 3). Study 4 showed the reversal of the effect—being in a dimmer (vs. brighter) room induces greater hopelessness toward the perceived job search prospects. Taken together, these results suggest that hopeless feeling seems to bias people’s perceptual judgment of ambient brightness, which may potentially impact their electricity consumption

Brightness · Cognition · Embodied cognition · Feeling · Metaphor · Perception · Preference · Action Observation and Synchronization · Communication · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Media Influence and Health · Psychology · Social Psychology