“Touch remains perhaps the most underappreciated sense in behavioral research,” says Christopher C. Nocera, a graduate student in Harvard’s psychology department.

A paper that Nocera and two colleagues have just published in Science backs up that claim, demonstrating just how freakishly influential our tactile apparatus may be.

In one study, subjects were asked to review resumés that had been placed on either heavy or light clipboards. Resumés that were read on hard clipboards were judged to be more substantive than those read on softer ones.

Other test subjects engaged in mock negotiations over the price of a new car. Those who sat in firm chairs drove harder bargains than those ensconced in plusher seats….