Is sadness heavy and happiness light? The impact of embodied perception of weight on emotional valence

A connection between emotions and weight is suggested in everyday language, but research on the metaphorical weight of emotions is relatively sparse, primarily focusing on complex emotions such as guilt and anxiety. In this study we employed an experimental approach to explore whether embodied weight perception affects individuals’ emotions. Participants were students at a university in Chongqing, China, who were divided into two groups. Each participant held newspapers of different weights for a period of time. For the group that first held a light newspaper and then a heavier one, the priming did not exert a significant influence on participants’ emotional evaluations, whereas for those who first held a very heavy file of newspapers and then a lighter one, the priming elicited more negative emotional appraisals. Additionally, results from the heavy-to-light group suggested that beginning with initiating a sense of heaviness results in more negative emotions, and subsequent exposure to lightness provides emotional relief. Experiences of heaviness and lightness at an embodied level can influence the emotional state of the individual.