ections in psy Summary of Anderson, A C. (2001). Heat t and violence e.

Current Dire ychological sc cience, 10, 33 3-38

Modern studies s of the heat hy ypothesis (Post 1950 0) Heat hy ypothesis: Hot tempe eratures in ncrease ag gressive m motivations s and aggress sive behav vior.
Directly y increasing g feelings of hostility h Indirec ctly increasin ng aggressiv ve thoughts Global warming tre ends may we ell increase crime. c Better r climate con ntrols may reduce aggres ssionrelated d problems.

There are a three ty ypes of stu udies

Type 1: Field studie es dies comparin ng geograph hic regions Stud - Violent V crime is s consistently y higher in the e south of the e US - However, H there e could be oth her explanatio ons such as c culture Stud dies comparin ng time perio ods - Studies that co ompared seas sons of heat with w seasons of cold, supp port the heat h hypothesis (E Example: 2.6% % increase in n murders eve ery summer in n the US) - People in cars without air co onditioning tre end to honk m more aggress sively - Hot H police offic cers reported seeing the su uspects are m more threaten ning that cold ones. Summ mary of field d studies - Most M field stud dies are correl lational, so ca ausal interpre etation must b be temprered - However H the tw wo major challengers to the heat hypoth hesis (change es in routine a activities and so outhern cultur re) do not fare e well from a broad perspe ective. - The causal inte erpretation se eems to be strongly suppo rted Type 2: Lab studies s essive heat in ncrease the aggression a when w the neg gative stimul lus is low (fi ight response) Exce But when w the neg gative stimul lus is high, then t it is the flight respon nse which is s triggered Type 3: Lab studies s focused on n aggression n-related vari iables t s do not auto omatically pr rime aggress sive thoughts ts Hot temperatures Heat stress decre eases perfor rmance on many m cognitiv ve tasks

There are a four sta atements that summa arize the re esults of th hese studi ies:
1: It is false that he eat effects result solely fr rom artifactu ual processes. 2: Cann not find decl lines in aggr ression when n it is hot. 3: Othe er aggression-related pro ocesses look k weaker whe en there is h heat involved d (so heat loo oks like the e stronger ca ause) 4: Simp ple claims su uch as "heat t makes peop ple unhappy and unhapp py people are e more aggres ssive" have proven p to be really robus st

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Summary of Anderson, C. (2001). Heat and violence. Current Directions in psychological science, 10, 33-38

Psychological processes underlying the heat effect Heat effect: Observation of higher rates of aggression by people who are hot relative to people who are cooler. "Crankiness" notion: Being uncomfortable colors the way people see things: Minor insults are perceived as greater and a demand for retaliation The author believes that most heat-induced increases in aggression result from distortion of the social interaction process in a hostile direction (example: an accidental bump in a hot and crowded bar can lead to a fight and even to murder) New research directions (Questions remaining to be answered) 1. Does excessive heat bias perceptions in ongoing social interactions? 2. Do people missatribute the symptoms of heat for results of an insult? 3. Do cognitive effect of heat interfere with natural aggression inhibitors? 4. Do escape motives influence the heat effect? 5. Do social justice processes underlie the findings on relations between heat and aggression? Current implications If the heat hypothesis turns out to be true, there goes another reason to try to stop global warming Research on heat control can lead to a better environment in prisons and workplaces (not sure why the author put the two of them together in his article LOL), thus reducing the cost of trying to keep peace and order in those places (make prisoners quieter and make employees more productive!)

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