The old adage that cold hands often conceal a warm heart has been dispelled by scientists, after they found how physically warm you are has a direct correlation to how nice you are to people.
People holding a warm cup of coffee were found to be more generous and charitable - particularly about others - than individuals holding an iced coffee, the study found.
The researchers believe the effect relates to childhood when emotional warmth given by a parent was often accompanied by the physical warmth of being held or hugged.
The Yale University research seems to disprove the old saying 'cold hands, warm heart' which has generally been seen to describe how a cool exterior often disguises a kind heart.
To test the theory the scientists, who reported their results in the journal Science, carried out two studies involving a total of 94 undergraduates.
For the first they presented half the unwitting participants with a hot or ice cold coffee and then asked what they thought of a stranger after a brief meeting.
They found that holding a hot cup of coffee led people to judge the stranger to be a "warmer" person, in terms of traits such as generosity and kindness, compared to a group of people who held a cup of iced coffee.
In the second study the researchers had people, who thought they were evaluating a product, hold either a warm or cold object - hot pads or cold pads as used in muscle therapy- and then given a choice of reward for participating in the study: either a gift for a friend, or a reward for themselves.
The study found that people who held the hot pad were more likely to choose the gift for a friend, and people who held the cold pack were more likely to choose the reward for themselves.
"It appears that the effect of physical temperature is not just on how we see others, it affects our own behaviour as well," Professor John Bargh, a psychologist who carried out the study.
"Physical warmth can make us see others as warmer people, but also cause us to be warmer - more generous and trusting - as well."
His co-author Lawrence Williams, who has since moved to the University of Colorado, said he thought the effect related to childhood.
"As a young child or infant, being held close by a care-giver with love and affection leads us to develop a concept of what it means to be a warm person, or to feel interpersonal warmth," he said.
"But during those learning experiences, children are simultaneously being exposed to physically warm temperatures, through close contact with another human being."
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