A closer look
Harry Harlow notoriously tortured baby monkeys to prove that they preferred a fuzzy cloth mother over a cold wire mother holding food. But the horrifying reality of social thermoregulation is that human beings use physical temperature to simulate emotional affection. We literally co-opted the brain's thermal-regulation circuits for social bonding. It's why holding a hot cup of coffee makes you subconsciously judge strangers as more trustworthy—your brain confuses physical heat with actual love.
