The Effects of Texture on Emotion

Publication Date

Spring 4-16-2025

Presentation Length

Poster/Gallery presentation

College

College of Sciences & Mathematics

Department

Psychological Science, Department of

Student Level

Undergraduate

SPARK Category

Research

Faculty Advisor

Michael Oliver

SPARK Session

One of our group members already has two presentations occurring (11:45-12:45 and 3:45-4:45) so a time in the morning or between them would work best.

Presentation Type

Talk/Oral

Summary

The present study explores the emotional effects of texture on decision making. Existing research indicates that there are significant distinctions in the type of emotion and intensity of emotion between various textures during touch (Losifyan & Korolkova, 2019). Along with this, previous research has incorporated the use of a sliding scale to rate pleasant or unpleasant emotional reactions to different textures during touch (Bertheaux et al., 2019). Researchers have also found that soft textures (i.e., fleece and velvet) can stimulate positive emotions and vice versa (Zeng et al., 2024). Furthermore, existing research has worked to provide evidence that anxiety affects a person’s decision-making process (Bishop & Gagne, 2018), though more research is required to fully understand its effects (Hartley & Phelps, 2012). Thus, the purpose of the current project is to explore the relationships between texture and emotion, specifically anxiety and comfort, as well as the effects that these textures and emotions may have on the participant’s decision-making process. Building on this literature, we hypothesize that through this study, participants will make more rational decisions after feeling more soft textures like silk, and will make more irrational decisions after feeling more rough textures like sandpaper. Our hypotheses will be tested through a blind experiment where participants will feel the chosen textures in a box. After feeling each material, the participants answered chosen scenarios where they must make a decision based on the context. The anticipated results from the study are that rational decisions will be made by the group of participants that feel the softer textures, and those who feel the rougher textures will make less thought-out, more rational decisions.

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