Hot-cold Empathy Gap: What It Is And How This Bias Affects Us
Do you know what the hot-cold empathy gap is? This is a cognitive bias through which we underestimate the influence of visceral (emotional) impulses on our own behaviors, preferences and attitudes. This bias was coined by George Loewenstein, a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University.
In this article we tell you what this bias consists of, what typologies of it exist and how it can influence our decision-making.
The Hot-Cold Empathy Gap Bias Has to Do with How We Feel ; Thus, our understanding of things depends on the state in which we are immersed. That is, if we are angry, it is difficult for us to imagine ourselves calm, but also if we are in love; In this case, it is difficult for us to imagine not being so in the future.
In other words, what we feel determines our understanding of things, and makes it difficult for us to see them differently at that precise moment.
Along these lines, the hot-cold empathy gap translates into a inability to foresee how we will behave in a certain emotional (or even passionate) state, even if we have already experienced it before. This bias can lead us to make mistakes, or make decisions that we later regret.
Directions of bias
On the other hand, the hot-cold empathy gap can go two directions. Let’s analyze each of them:
1. From hot to cold
People are said to be in a “hot state” when they are influenced by an emotional state (i.e., when visceral factors come into play).
Under this state, have difficulty fully understanding the extent to which their behavior is being driven by what they are feeling. Instead, they think that what they actually do in the short term is determined by what they want in the long term.
2. From cold to hot
In the opposite state, from cold to hot, people are placed in a “cold state.” But what does this mean? They show difficulties in imagining themselves in “hot states” (emotional).
Thus, contrary to what happens in the previous case, They underestimate the force that their visceral impulses have on their behavior or decision-making. What consequences does this have? A lack of preparation when emotional impulses arise.
Guys
The hot-cold empathy gap can also be classified according to two parameters: its “location” in time (past or future) and whether it involves intrapersonal or interpersonal events.
1. Intrapersonal prospective
In this case, we talk about the difficulties that people have in predicting our own future behavior when we find ourselves in a different emotional state than what would correspond in the future.
That is, and with a simple example; If we are very sad now, it is difficult for us to imagine being very happy in the future.
2. Intrapersonal retrospective
In this second type, retrospective, the temporal location is located in the past; Thus, it is about the difficulties that we manifest in remembering (or understanding) certain behaviors that we had in the past in a different state than the current one.
That is, if these behaviors occurred in a different emotional state than now, we may have difficulty remembering or even understanding them.
3. Interpersonal
Finally, the third case of hot-cold empathy gap, according to the interpersonal parameter, would be the following: the attempts we make to evaluate both the behaviors and preferences of others, in a state different from our own. Well, according to this bias, we would have difficulties evaluating them.
We have talked about visceral factors (or visceral drives) to explain the hot-cold empathy gap. But what exactly are these factors?
The word visceral comes from viscera, from the Latin “viscera”, which means “inwards”. It also denotes other meanings, such as “maternal womb” (uterus), “the intimate part of the heart” or “the instincts.” Visceral also means intense and irrational, and is frequently related to primitive emotional states.
Thus, visceral factors include different states, such as: sexual arousal, thirst, hunger, pain, strong emotions… When we make decisions, visceral factors influence much more than we think (This is why it is often better to stop, calm down and wait for that state to “pass”, to decide in a more serene way and more in line with what we really want).
When we are immersed in a visceral state, we speak of being in a state of heat (as we have already mentioned); It is under these types of states that our mind will tend to ignore many of the stimuli necessary to decide sensibly.
We must keep in mind that states of heat are also related to hasty decision-making, impulsivity and the possibility of losing control.
How to deal with the hot-cold empathy gap?
Anticipating it, or rather, the hot or cold state in which we will find ourselves. The fact of anticipating will allow us to foresee how we could behave in such a situation and even take measures before immersing ourselves in said state.
Sexuality in the youngest
We find it interesting to answer this question, because This bias is of great importance in issues such as sexuality (especially among adolescents and young people).
Isn’t it true that the fact of being about to perform the sexual act immerses us in a passionate state? And that many young people, faced with this state, “let themselves go” and do not use condoms? Therefore, the solution is to always carry it on hand, and think that we must use it before reaching this visceral state.
In a cold state (away from the sexual moment) we may think that we will act in a certain way in the hot state (at the moment of the sexual act), but it is difficult to predict, and that is precisely what the cold-hot empathy gap speaks of.
Definitely; We will never act the same from a cold state as from a hot one and what we may think we will do in each of these states will always be far from reality.
Final reflection
In short, what the hot-cold empathy gap denotes, as its name indicates, is a lack of empathy in certain situations. Thus, what this bias says is that in a “cold” state, we do not predict too effectively how we would react in a “hot” situation, and vice versa. In this sense it will be difficult for us to be right.
Surely most of us have experienced this bias at some point, since, let’s not kid ourselves; Hypothesizing about something we feel at the current moment is not the same as hypothesizing what we would do in a state different from the current one (for example, what would you do if you got pregnant at a very young age? Would you have an abortion? Who knows… this bias may be influencing you).
