From Embodied Cognition View: Study On Bidirectional Relationship Between Weight And Importance

The research on bidirectional relationship between abstract conceptions andphysical perceptions is increasingly becoming one hotspot of embodied cognition study.Although some empirical research abroad approved interaction between abstractconceptions and physical perceptions, further study is needed to explore whether theinteraction exists universally and whether there are boundary conditions with it. Littlerelated empirical research has been conducted in China. Based on the previousresearch this article focused on the interaction between the perception of weight andthe abstract conception importance to explore the interaction between abstractconceptions and physical perceptions in social cognition field under the background ofChinese culture.The Mixed Design5×2was employed in the Experiment Ⅰ. One independentvariables was the weight carried by the participants with5levels namely250g,1300g,2400g,3500g and4500g. The other independent variable was situation event includinghigh correlation event and low correlation event. High correlation events have highcorrelation while low correlation events have low correlation with the participants intheir daily lives. The weight classes were between-subject designed while the situationevents were within subject designed. Participants were required to complete thequestionnaires on the file boxes held by them in certain poise. The weight of the filebox varied to explore the influence of the file box weight on the participant'sjudgments on the event importance.2×2between-subject design was employed inExperiment Ⅱ. One independent variables was theparticipants' perceptive modeincluding holding the model and watching the model. The other independent variable was the model's status including important and unimportant. The dependent variablewas the participants' estimation of the model's weight and height. The fashion model'sstatus (important or unimportant) was set up by introductions to explore the influenceof the model's importance on the estimation of its height and weight.The following conclusions were based on the experiment results and previousresearch:The weight perception had influence on the evaluation of the abstract conceptionimportance. However, the evaluation of event importance was not always elevated withthe weight increasing. The influence differed in different situation events. Theinfluence of weight perception on the evaluation of importance not obvious in the highcorrelation events. In the low correlation events, the weight perception had obviousinfluence on the participants ' evaluation of the event's importance when the weightreached a critical value. The more the weight was, the more important the event wasconsidered. This indicated that whether the weight had embodied cognition effect onthe abstract concept importance depended on both the degree of weight andrelationship between the event and individual.In the person perception, the conception importance had influence on theevaluation of person's weight and height by the semantic correlation. Importantpersons' height and weight were always higher evaluated than unimportant persons.