Experimental Research Examining How People Can Cope with Uncertainty Through Soft Haptic Sensations

The overall goal of the following experiment is to test whether people seek softness under uncertainty, and to show that such softness seeking is functional in that it reduces uncertainty. This is achieved by using an experimental priming procedure to activate uncertainty versus certainty. As a second step, participants are asked to choose a pen with a soft versus hard grip, which is to test whether people search for softness under uncertainty.

The results show that when feeling uncertain, participants choose more often a pen with a soft grip as compared to a pen with a hard grip, whereas there is no difference in pen choice when feeling certain. Secondly, to test whether softness is functional and reduces uncertainty. Participants were asked after uncertainty or certainty was primed to do an ambiguous task while holding a soft or a hard pen.

It was tested whether people feel less uncertain about their answers on an ambiguous task and over time the results show that after activation of uncertainty versus certainty, level of uncertainty is reduced after holding a pen with a soft grip as compared to a hard grip. The main advantage of this technique over existing methods like subliminal priming methods, is that participants are asked to mentally simulate certain versus uncertain events due to which the manipulation is more strongly experienced. This method can help answer key questions in the field of social cognition, such as how feelings of uncertainty can be reduced through an experiential route instead of a cognitive route by incidental forms of touch Begin by inviting the participants to enter the laboratory.

Though a normal room was used here for filming purposes, ask them to sit down in a cubicle behind a desk and then introduce them to the paper and pencil questionnaire. Next, tell the participants that they will take part in two or more unrelated tasks, which are in fact related to each other. It is important that the participant is ignorant about the fact that the first task may influence their performance.

On the second task, tell participants that in the first task they will read a paragraph about general life events and they will then be asked to write about a personal experience. Give half of the participants the uncertainty questionnaire and half of the participants the certainty questionnaire. In the uncertainty condition, participants were asked to read and write about life events on the societal, economical, and personal level that were characterized by high levels of uncertainty.

In the certainty condition, participants were asked to read and write about life events that were characterized by high levels of certainty. Once the participants have read the paragraph, let them continue on to the writing task. In general, the priming is most effective when completed on paper and pencil.

However, when pens are used in the experiment, the writing task has to be done on the computer. The instructions of the writing tasks should read. Now, think about how uncertainty shapes your own life.

Please think of an example and write on the lines provided underneath the situation how you felt, et cetera. Please provide as many details as possible once finished with a second task or after a maximum of 10 minutes, ask the participant to rank how they feel by asking them how do you feel right now? Have them rank how they feel from one being very uncertain to nine, being very certain.

Using a similar scale, measure the participant's mood by asking them, how do you feel at this moment? One means they feel very negative and nine means they feel very positive. Select two products that are equal in attractiveness but differ in softness, such as the pens shown here.

Test the softness and the attractiveness of the objects beforehand by asking separate participants how soft and how attractive the objects are on a nine point scale. Make sure that all the other features of the objects like shape and color are as equal as possible. Make sure both pens work equally well to avoid frustration or a low quality experience with a pen.

Then have the participants experience the softness of the objects unobtrusively with an unrelated filler task. For instance, let participants use both of the pens in a separate task by asking them to draw any two objects, one with each pen. Once the objects have been drawn, tell participants that the experiment is finished and that they can come out of the cubicle.

Present the products orderly by putting the soft product on one serving tray and the hard product on another tray. Present both trays on the desk of the experimenter and tell the participant that they can choose one of the products as a token of appreciation for their participation in the study and register. Which of the two products was chosen to test if softness reduces uncertainty?

Participants were after priming uncertainty versus certainty asked to do an ambiguous task, such as the snowy picture task and their certainty ratings on this ambiguous task were measured to run this task, select a number of images in which objects are embedded in visual snow as described in the accompanying text protocol. Print each picture out at 8.5 centimeters by six centimeters on a single page. Give half of the participants a soft grip pen to work on the task and the other half a hard grip pen on the line Underneath the picture, ask participants to write down which object they think is hidden behind the snow.

Let participants indicate on a Likert scale from a one meaning very uncertain to a nine, meaning very certain as to how certain they feel about their answer. To measure participant's general level of uncertainty. After working on the task with a soft versus hard grip pen, ask the participant to indicate how they feel by responding to the item.

How do you feel right now from one being very uncertain to nine, being very certain to begin this method pretest two different cloths that different texture, but are as much the same as possible in every other aspect. Pretest the fabrics by asking a separate set of participants to hold the fabric in their hands and rate the fabric from one meaning the fabric feels very soft to nine, meaning the fabric is very rough. Then in the real experiment, use two of the fabrics that differ significantly in softness such as suede and fabric used for furniture and randomly assign half of the participants to hold the soft fabric for one minute and the other half to hold the rough fabric for one minute.

As a cover story, participants were told that it was a product test and would be asked later to evaluate the fabric after the minute is up, ask participants first to evaluate the fabric on attractiveness, softness, and quality to back up the cover story. Next to measure weather softness reduces intolerance of uncertainty in daily life. Tell participants to go to the second task and ask participants to fill out two subsets of the uncertainty intolerance test using a nine point scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

When presented with a choice of the two pen seen here, a larger percentage of the participants that were presented with the uncertainty paragraph chose the soft grip pen over the hard grip pen. Those that were presented with a certainty paragraph didn't seem to have a pen preference shown. Here are the results of a snowy picture task following uncertain or certain priming participants primed for uncertainty.

Were more confident in their answers when using a soft grip pen than when using a hard grip pen, whereas the confidence of the answers of those primed for certainty was not influenced by pen type. The graph shown here shows the functionality of softness during uncertainty. The graph demonstrates that after holding and feeling a soft fabric for one minute, people show a significantly lower intolerance for uncertainty in daily life.

Then after holding a rough fabric, After watching this video, you should have a good understanding of how environmental uncertainty or certainty can be situationally activated through an experiential priming procedure, and that uncertainty can be reduced via an experiential root instead of a cognitive root via soft haptic sensations.