Fire's benefit on human life : Effect of fireplace on communication

Matsunami Haruhito, Hanyu Kazunori

doi:10.20786/mera.10.1_1

Fire was used as an important factor to encourage communication in old days such as open hearth or hibachi brazier around which family members used to have meals in old-fashioned Japanese houses and open fire around which people gather to talk. On the other hand, fireplace is still used generally in Europe and North America not only as a heating system but also as an interior accessory to make the room more attractive. In this study, two conditions such as with-fireplace and without-fireplace were compared to examine the fireplace's effects on human intimacy and communications. One undergraduate female student and one housewife (30 participants in total) at first sight were paired and asked to talk for 50 minutes in both of two conditions and they were observed. The sensations showed that the participants felt more relaxed, comforted, familiar and felt that the talking partner looked alike to themselves in with-fireplace condition compared to without-fireplace. The results of observation showed that the distance between the two participants came closer, nodding times got increased, and conversation gap time was shorter in with-fireplace condition. These results indicate that the fire has curing effect like watching river or clouds.

Fire's benefit on human life : Effect of fireplace on communication

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