Warmth and conformity: The effects of ambient temperature on product preferences and financial decisions

Comfortable ambient temperatures can influence consumer preferences for conformity. The results of three laboratory experiments suggest that warm (vs. cool) temperatures dispose consumers toward using others' opinions as the basis for product preferences, stock price forecasts, and betting. Warm temperatures increased the participants' perceptions of social closeness to other decision-makers, thus leading them to consider the opinions of those decision-makers to have greater validity. This enhanced validity, in turn, rendered them more likely to conform to the crowd. This effect was confirmed in an analysis of betting behavior at the racetrack over a three-year period. Bets were more likely to converge on the “favorite” (i.e., the majority-endorsed option) when the temperature at the track was warm.