Physical firmness increases structural alignment

Abstract

Raising one's jammed fist is not just a common pictorial representation of struggle against the establishment but turns out to reflect a deeper connection between sensorimotor states and beliefs. The present research investigated how physical firmness, manipulated through muscle tightening, might shape beliefs. The central hypothesis, structural alignment, was tested against two other competing predictions: content extremity and content matching. Three studies provided evidence supporting structural alignment but not content matching or extremity. Specifically, the correlation between intelligence and personality lay beliefs (Studies 1–2), and the correlation between individualizing and binding moral foundations (Study 3) increased when participants jammed their fist (Study 1) or clenched their jaw (Studies 2–3). These effects emerged in the absence of mean-level differences (which would have reflected content matching or extremity). Moreover, they did not seem attributable to response bias or tiredness. An additional study suggested decent rates of compliance with experimental instructions that were comparable between conditions. Overall, sensorimotor experiences such as physical firmness can align higher-order cognitions such as beliefs in ways that are distinct from prior demonstrations of embodied cognition effects.