WASHINGTON — Talk about mood lighting.
New research suggests that not only can bright lights make people feel emotions more intensely, lighting can impact their decision making.
A study from the University of Toronto Scarborough shows people in brightly lit rooms think women are more attractive, fictional characters are more aggressive and prefer chicken wing sauce that’s spicier.
Lighting even impacted how intensely study participants felt about words. For example, they felt better about positive words and worse about negative words.
The researchers say their findings suggest that if people have important decisions to make, or something to negotiate and don’t want to get too emotional about it they should turn down the lights.
The study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology suggests lighting also can be used to manipulate buyers.
It says because bright lights can make people feel more emotional, stores selling items such as engagement rings and flowers should be as brightly lit as possible.
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