Do you see red at our weather? Actually, it makes us less violent!
IT could be good news for Ireland – changeable weather makes people less violent.
Hot weather has long been linked to more aggression in a population.
But now, researchers attempting to explain this connection believe it is not just the heat that changes people’s behaviour – but rather how much the weather varies.
And they found that countries with more diverse weather, such as Ireland, are less violent than countries where it is always hot.
Professor Brad Bushman, coauthor of the study, said: ‘Climate shapes how people live, it affects the culture in ways that we don’t think about in our daily lives.’
The psychology professor, from Ohio State University, US, said the two leading explanations of why violence is more prevalent in warm countries both fail.
The General Aggression Model suggests heat makes people feel uncomfortable and irritated, which makes them more aggressive.
‘But that doesn’t explain more extreme acts, such as murder,’ he said. Another theory is people are outdoors more when the weather is warm, which leads to more opportunities for conflict.
But this does not explain why there’s more violence at 35C rather than 24C – as people would be outside in both scenarios.
The new model suggests it is not just hotter temperatures that lead to violence – it is climates that have less seasonal variation in temperature.
Co-author Maria Rinderu, of Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, said: ‘Less variation in temperature, combined with heat, brings some measure of consistency to daily life.’
She said this means there is less necessity to plan for large swings between warm and cold weather.
People in consistently hot countries have a ‘faster life strategy’ that is less concerned about the future, and has less need for self control.
Her colleague Paul Van Lange added: ‘Strong seasonal variation in temperature affects culture in powerful ways. Planning in agriculture, hoarding, or simply preparing for cold winters shapes the culture in many ways, often with people not even noticing it.
‘But it does shape how much a culture values time and self-control. If there is less variation, you’re freer to do what you want now, because you’re not preparing foods or chopping firewood or making winter clothes to get you through the winter. You also may be more concerned with the immediate stress that comes along with parasites and other risks of hot climates, such as venomous animals.’
A faster life strategy makes people less strict about time, and use birth control less, and means having children earlier and more often, the researchers said, while less self-control leads to people reacting with aggression more quickly and more often. Previous research has tended to show that cold weather affects moods in a different way. Winter months can bring seasonal affective disorder because of a lack of light, but little research has been done on cold climates and aggression.
But the latest theory does not claim that people in consistently hot climates have no choice when it comes to violence and aggression.
Professor Lange said: ‘How people approach life is a part of culture and culture is strongly affected by climate. Climate doesn’t make a person, but it is one part of what influences each of us. We believe it shapes the culture in important ways.’
‘Affects us in way we don’t think about’