Running head: EMOTIVE CONCEPT-NOUNS

We carried out three experiments aimed at testing whether the compatibility effect between a word’s emotional connotation and arm movement direction found by Chen and Bargh (1999) is affected by hand posture. Participants responded by pressing two buttons: one placed near their body, the other far away. In Experiment 1, they classified words as positive or negative by hitting the response button with their hand open. RTs were shorter when pressing the “far” button for positive words and the “near” button for negative words, as if they “simulated” reaching for something “good” and avoiding something “bad”. In Experiment 2 and 3 participants responded while holding a tennis-ball in their hand. RTs were shorter when pressing the “near” button for positive words and the “far” button for negative words, as if they “simulated” drawing something “good” near themselves and pushing the “bad” thing away. Results are discussed within the framework of theories on concept grounding in emotion and action systems. C456 Emotive Concept-Nouns 3