Abstract
We established a method to analyze the psychological response to local hot water stimuli in order to better understand the human psychological response to taking a shower. Our analysis involved a categorized evaluation scale of thermal sensation to local hot water stimuli. We examined whether categories were at regular intervals or not. We then discussed differences in psychological response to hot water stimuli between males and females using the Akaike Information Criterion. The relationship between the objective physical hot water stimuli and subjective psychological response was determined quantitatively using the so-called membership function in the fuzzy set theory. The degree of fuzziness existing in the subjective judgment was then evaluated using the concept of fuzzy entropy. The following results were obtained; (1) Categories of thermal sensation were at regular intervals. (2) Males showed a lower tolerance of heat than females. Males were more susceptible to heat sensation than females.
