How Heat Affects our Behavior and Decision-Making
We’ve all experienced those hot summer’s days, when you’re sweating through your clothes and it seems unbearable to move even one more inch than necessary. Those days when everybody seems especially annoying and all you want to do is go home, crank up the AC, and cool down.
As climate change marches full steam ahead, heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more intense.1 Many experts have sounded the alarm about how a warming planet is likely to affect our physical health, putting vulnerable people at increased risk of heat-related illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and heat stroke.
But another, often-overlooked consequence of climate change is the effect this extra heat will have on our decision-making processes. If you’ve noticed that you feel more irritable in the warmer months, rest assured that it’s not just you. As it turns out, social scientists have documented this phenomenon, dubbing it the heat hypothesis. The theory posits that hot weather can increase angry, aggressive, and even violent behavior.2,3,4,5
If we’re going to prevent the worst of the climate crisis from hitting us, we need to change our behavior, and fast. But given what we know about climate change and all the human elements that contribute to it, could the hot weather itself be an obstacle to making progress on this front? And what other consequences will a warming planet have on our decision-making?
References
- Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. (2022, July 27). Heat Waves and Climate Change. Retrieved September 8, 2022, from https://www.c2es.org/content/heat-waves-and-climate-change/
- Allen, J. J., Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2018, February). The General Aggression Model. Current Opinion in Psychology, 19, 75–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.03.034
- Anderson, C. A. (1989, July). Temperature and aggression: ubiquitous effects of heat on occurrence of human violence. Psychological Bulletin, 106(1), 74–96. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.106.1.74
- Anderson, C. A., & Anderson, D. C. (1984, January). Ambient temperature and violent crime: tests of the linear and curvilinear hypotheses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(1), 91–97. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.46.1.91
- Krenzer, W. L. D., & Splan, E. D. (2018, January). Evaluating the heat-aggression hypothesis: The role of temporal and social factors in predicting baseball related aggression. Aggress Behav, 44(1), 83–88. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21726
- Ceccato, V. (2005, September). Homicide in São Paulo, Brazil: Assessing spatial-temporal and weather variations. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25(3), 307–321. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494405000393?via%3Dihub
- Breetzke, G. D. (2011, February 10). Seasonal Assault and Neighborhood Deprivation in South Africa: Some Preliminary Findings. Environment and Behavior, 44(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916510397758
- Miles-Novelo, A., & Anderson, C. A. (2019, January). Climate Change and Psychology: Effects of Rapid Global Warming on Violence and Aggression. Current Climate Change Reports, 5, 36–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-019-00121-2
- Plante, C., Allen, J. A., & Anderson, C. A. (2017, April). Likely Effects of Rapid Climate Change on Violence andConflict. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.344
- Mullins, J. T., & White, C. (2019, December). Temperature and mental health: Evidence from the spectrum of mental health outcomes. Journal of Health Economics, 68, 102240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2019.102240
- Burnett, D. (2018, February 14). Cruel Summer: how hot weather makes people angrier. The Guardian. Retrieved September 8, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2015/jul/03/summer-hot-weather-anger-psychology
- Liu, J., Varghese, B. M., Hansen, A., Xiang, J., Zhang, Y., Dear, K., Gourley, M., Driscoll, T., Morgan, G., Capon, A., & Bi, P. (2021, August). Is there an association between hot weather and poor mental health outcomes? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Environment International, 153, 106533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106533
- Lerner, J. S., & Tiedens, L. Z. (2006). Portrait of the angry decision maker: how appraisal tendencies shape anger’s influence on cognition. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19(2), 115–137. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.515
- Meissner, P., Poensgen, C., & Wulf, T. (2021, August). How hot cognition can lead us astray: The effect of anger on strategic decision making. European Management Journal, 39(4), 434–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2020.09.010
- Bodenhausen, G. V., Sheppard, L. A., & Kramer, G. P. (1994, January). Negative affect and social judgment: The differential impact of anger and sadness. European Journal of Social Psychology, 24(1), 45–62. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420240104
- Lerner, J. S., Goldberg, J. H., & Tetlock, P. E. (1998, June). Sober Second Thought: The Effects of Accountability, Anger, and Authoritarianism on Attributions of Responsibility. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24(6), 563–574. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167298246001
- Small, D. A., & Lerner, J. S. (2008, April). Emotional Policy: Personal Sadness and Anger Shape Judgments about a Welfare Case. Political Psychology, 29(2), 149–168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2008.00621.x
- Tiedens, L. Z. (2001). The Effect of Anger on the Hostile Inferences of Aggressive and Nonaggressive People: Specific Emotions, Cognitive Processing, and Chronic Accessibility. Motivation and Emotion, 25(3), 233–251. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1012224507488
- Tiedens, L. Z., & Linton, S. (2001). Judgment under emotional certainty and uncertainty: The effects of specific emotions on information processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(6), 973–988. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.6.973
- Litvak, P. M., Lerner, J. S., Tiedens, L. Z., & Shonk, K. (2009, December 21). Fuel in the Fire: How Anger Impacts Judgment and Decision-Making. International Handbook of Anger, 287–310. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89676-2_17
- Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2001). Fear, Anger, and Risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1), 146–159. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.1.146
- Underwood, E. A. M. (2021, June 23). How to Prevent Air Conditioners from Heating the Planet. Scientific American. Retrieved September 8, 2022, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-prevent-air-conditioners-from-heating-the-planet/
- Whitmarsh, L., Poortinga, W., & Capstick, S. (2021, December). Behaviour change to address climate change. Current Opinion in Psychology, 42, 76–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.04.002
- Communications and Marketing. (2022, July 20). 8 ways to manage your anger when the temperature rises. Vanderbilt University. Retrieved September 8, 2022, from https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2018/07/20/8-ways-to-manage-your-anger-when-the-temperature-rises/
About the Author
Lindsey Turk
Lindsey Turk is a Summer Content Associate at The Decision Lab. She holds a Master of Professional Studies in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Boston University. Over the last few years, she’s gained experience in customer service, consulting, research, and communications in various industries. Before The Decision Lab, Lindsey served as a consultant to the US Department of State, working with its international HIV initiative, PEPFAR. Through Cornell, she also worked with a health food company in Kenya to improve access to clean foods and cites this opportunity as what cemented her interest in using behavioral science for good.
About us
We are the leading applied research & innovation consultancy
Our insights are leveraged by the most ambitious organizations
“
I was blown away with their application and translation of behavioral science into practice. They took a very complex ecosystem and created a series of interventions using an innovative mix of the latest research and creative client co-creation. I was so impressed at the final product they created, which was hugely comprehensive despite the large scope of the client being of the world's most far-reaching and best known consumer brands. I'm excited to see what we can create together in the future.
Heather McKee
BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST
GLOBAL COFFEEHOUSE CHAIN PROJECT
OUR CLIENT SUCCESS
$0M
Annual Revenue Increase
By launching a behavioral science practice at the core of the organization, we helped one of the largest insurers in North America realize $30M increase in annual revenue.
0%
Increase in Monthly Users
By redesigning North America's first national digital platform for mental health, we achieved a 52% lift in monthly users and an 83% improvement on clinical assessment.
0%
Reduction In Design Time
By designing a new process and getting buy-in from the C-Suite team, we helped one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world reduce software design time by 75%.
0%
Reduction in Client Drop-Off
By implementing targeted nudges based on proactive interventions, we reduced drop-off rates for 450,000 clients belonging to USA's oldest debt consolidation organizations by 46%
