New York is always changing. The skyline constantly diversifies itself as do neighborhoods, people and parks throughout the city. Washington Square Park, unlike most of this continuously evolving city, has held onto its lively bohemian atmosphere. In one corner of the park, old men can be found sitting at chess tables, moving pawns across the cool marble surface. Gypsy like men strum their guitars and sing by the great white arch. Cool droplets of water travel from the fountain to our skin as we take in Washington Square. Washington Square, while quite small, offers a diversity of sensations and textures as we explore each corner of the park.
The research topic we’ve come up with is to investigate on how different sensation and texture produced by the sense of touch affect one’s mood and overall feeling. We decided on this topic when we first visited the park as a group. We walked around the park several times and noticed that due to different temperature, shades and sensations, we can sometimes feel irritated, while sometimes calm and collected depending on the surrounding environment. We decided that this was an interesting topic to research on as human beings are emotional animals, and they often do not notice how their emotions are being changed or manipulated.
In our research, texture and sensations are a stimulus to a certain mood. A rough texture can generate fear and caution as it creates a dangerous aura; on the other hand, when touching the smooth, damp grass, it can generate calm and creates a soothing aura. For example, the hard marble texture made us feel more self-aware under the direct sun, while, the smooth and wooden texture of the benches made us feel more relaxed under the shade. In contrast, the smooth wood of the shaded benches provided a very calm and settling feeling when sitting on them. The firmness of the wood complements the softness of the human body and allows one to spread out and sit firmly. There is a saying amongst Zen Buddhists that states, “all you need in life is a comfortable seat” and the comforting texture of the wooden benches serves only to reinforce that texture has a direct relationship to emotional mind states.
Unconventional textures like water, wind and temperature can also affect the texture and, therefore, our mood. We noticed that the water fountain created a welcoming feeling. But the fountain was made of marble, a hard and smooth texture that isn’t exacting soothing. It was the water that soothed the area and created that welcoming feeling. Furthermore, when Wind is present in an environment it can intensify the feeling of a texture. When there is a breeze on damp grass, it lowers the temperature of the grass, this makes the grass feel unwelcoming can jarring. Lastly, Temperature is key in how a person experiences a texture due to the reactions of a specific material in specific temperatures. For example, the marble benches are a much more comforting texture when it’s hot out because they absorb heat. Alternatively, the wooden benches remain comforting in any temperature because wood is generally unaffected by average changes in temperature.
In conclusion, texture affects moods because it is felt through our sense of touch. Our emotions are products of our internal processing of our external situation, thus texture affects emotions because it is an external source of information. This was evident during our research. We observed different people feeling the same texture while experiencing different outcomes.
