Ch 6: Weather, Climate, And Behavior

Ch 6: Weather, Climate, And Behavior

1. The Differnce Between Climate And Wether

   • Weather
     • Refers to relatvley rapidly changing or momentray conditions
   • Climate
     • Refers to avaerage wether conditions or prevailing weather over a long period of time
     • Connection Between Geography And Climate
       • The high altutude of the mointain range pulls enough mosture out of the atmosphere to provide extenive foests on slopes

2. Global Warming

   • A problem occurs when our carbon recyling process becomes dirupted through at least two huamn caused interventions
     • 1. The elimnation of biomass as humans cut down forests
     • 2. When humans burn fossil fules in massive quantites; causes green house gasses
       • When gases build up into the air we get "Green house gases"
   • Ozone Hole
     • Aerosls in the form of cholorfuorcabous contribute to this
     • The orxone destroying process occuers heavily in stratoshpic ice clous
   • The Gaia Hypothesis
     • Says the earth self regulates the whole thermal process

3. EI Nino

   • This is a pattern in which tropical Pacific waters warm and spread to the equatorial coast of south America
   • Some others include a cooling of tropical pacific called La Nina
   • Interacts with human interbentions to exacerbate the problem
     • Ex. exacerbating forest fires

4. Thories

   • DETERMINISM: this suggests that climate forcefully causes a range of behaviors such as heat waves casuing crimes
   • POSSIBILISM: this proposes that climate sets physical limites within which behavior may vary; such as modest winds permitting siling but high winds retrciting bicycle riding

5. Early Beliefs

   • Hippocrates And Aristotle: believed that weather and climate influenced bodily fuids which in turn influnced peoples dispostions
   • Buckle: believed that temprate climates in regions with ferile soil permitted the neceary overproduction which permitted the rise of the lesure class and thus enabled the enture civlzation to advancemnet
   • Huntigton: believed that climate factors other than temp conditions wee neceassy for growth of a major civilztion
   • Markham: believed that the most important climatic factor for the development of a cilzation was living in a cool enouhg place

6. Heat And .....

   • Heat And Behavior
     • Amibent Temperature: This is used to decribe the surrounding or atmpsheric temperature conditions
     • People who move from cool climates into very warm climates can adpt to the hot enviomrnt without too much diffaculty and ths adaption process is known as "Aclimaztion"
     • When the body reachers a level of heat a number of phycholigcal disorders can occur
   • Heat And Performance
     • Lab Setting
       • Tempratures above 32 will impair mental perfamce after two houses of expsure for unaccliazation
     • Industrial Settings
       • Exosure to industrail heat can cause dehydration, loss of salt, and musle fatgue, which taken together can reduce endurance and heance impair performance
       • Care is generally taken to ensure that workers have an adequente intake of water and do wear the proper clothing and time to adapt
     • Classroom Settings
       • In nonclimate controlled schools, academic perframnce showed more variance as tempature rose
         • They found that heat hurt the classroom perfoance of some children but actually helped the performance of others: some studnets suffer more than others with the heat
     • Military Settings
       • Tropical regions from ore moderate climates suffered serious deteration in combat effectivness within three days and become in effect "heat casualties
         • Solutions invovle allowing several days for acclimaztion or expanding the number of troops available to allow for hear casusalties
     • One thing we can say overall is that as heat stress increase, people feel less and less in control of the neviorment and thus perfoamnce deterorates
   • Heat And Attraction
     • We should exprect a decrease in interpersonal attaction when we are expericneing the unplrasent effecys of either debilatng heat or cold
       • There are suggestions that heat may have a realatvly minor inflince on attraction under other cimrcumstance
   • Heat And Aggression
     • EXAMPLE: during the urban and campu riats of the 60's popular belif arouse that ritiosu acts of vioycne were in some way preicpated by the unrelenting heat of the summer mths
       • This is known as the "LONG HOT SUMMER EFFECT"
     • They are finding that more violent cremas including sex crimes seem to incrase with tempaerture
     • Types Of Studies With Heat And Aggression
       • GRAPHIC REGION STUDIES: this compares crime rates across differnce regions of a contry
       • TIME PERIOD STUDIES: make somewheat easer to control for extranous variables that graphic region studie would have. In this type of study you would measure violance acoress intervals of time such a as das or months. You then see wether quntitles of crimes in each day or mth rise or fall with the avarage temp for each time interval
       • CONCOMITANT TEMPATURE STUDY: this is when the temp is knwon at the actualy time of the violance
         • For example they found that automobile drivers hinked their horns more when temp went above 29
     • Negative Effect Modle
       • This model prefices that up to a point, the disconfort of heat incrases agression, however, extreme discomfort tents to decrease agression bc ppl would rather escape the sutyaion than fight
   • Heat And Helping Behavior
     • Williness to help seems to decline as the temp riases but they still find it hard to find a relationship between help and heat

7. Cold And...

   • Cold And Physical Reactions
     • PERIPHERAL VASOCNSTRION: keeps heat within the body
     • PILOERCTION: this is the stiffing of the hairs on the skin "goose bumps"
     • Acclination to cold enviorments may take several forms
       • Elevated metebloism to keep body temp high
       • Core tempature dropping at night
   • Cold And Health
     • With the right clothing and shelter you really should be ok further mental health really does not seem to be effected by cold temps
   • Cold And Performance
     • Your body is heavily allocated to maintaining adqeuqnte core temps so there is not enought engery or attetion left for optimum performance on manual and mental tasks
   • Cold And Crime
     • Found fewer sex crime were reported on cold days and overall found that cold harsh wether seems to incrases helping behavior and reduct crime

8. Altitude And..

   • Altitude And Physical Effects
     • Visitirs to high altitude areeas are likely to experence deeper and perhaps more rapid breathing to help compensate for hypoxia
     • Acclimaxtion to the enviorment at these elvation does still occuer
     • Hazards seem to occuer when pressure is extreme
       • Incrased breathing diffaculty
       • Oxygen poisoning caused by breathing
       • Nitogen posioning
       • Decompression Sickness caused by bubble form in bodt tissue
   • Altitude And Behavior
     • Generally, learning of new things is more affected by high altitudes than is recall os pervously learned materal
     • Research have observed three types of effect that air pressure changes have on people
       • 1. Medical complaints
       • 2. Incrased suside rates
       • 3. Increased disrutive behavior