Ch 6: Weather, Climate, And Behavior

The Differnce Between Climate And Wether
1. Weather
  1. Refers to relatvley rapidly changing or momentray conditions
2. Climate
  1. Refers to avaerage wether conditions or prevailing weather over a long period of time
  2. Connection Between Geography And Climate
    1. The high altutude of the mointain range pulls enough mosture out of the atmosphere to provide extenive foests on slopes
Global Warming
1. A problem occurs when our carbon recyling process becomes dirupted through at least two huamn caused interventions
  1. 1. The elimnation of biomass as humans cut down forests
  2. 2. When humans burn fossil fules in massive quantites; causes green house gasses
    1. When gases build up into the air we get "Green house gases"
2. Ozone Hole
  1. Aerosls in the form of cholorfuorcabous contribute to this
  2. The orxone destroying process occuers heavily in stratoshpic ice clous
3. The Gaia Hypothesis
  1. Says the earth self regulates the whole thermal process
EI Nino
1. This is a pattern in which tropical Pacific waters warm and spread to the equatorial coast of south America
2. Some others include a cooling of tropical pacific called La Nina
3. Interacts with human interbentions to exacerbate the problem
  1. Ex. exacerbating forest fires
Thories
1. DETERMINISM: this suggests that climate forcefully causes a range of behaviors such as heat waves casuing crimes
2. 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
Early Beliefs
1. Hippocrates And Aristotle: believed that weather and climate influenced bodily fuids which in turn influnced peoples dispostions
2. 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
3. Huntigton: believed that climate factors other than temp conditions wee neceassy for growth of a major civilztion
4. Markham: believed that the most important climatic factor for the development of a cilzation was living in a cool enouhg place
Heat And .....
1. Heat And Behavior
  1. Amibent Temperature: This is used to decribe the surrounding or atmpsheric temperature conditions
  2. 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"
  3. When the body reachers a level of heat a number of phycholigcal disorders can occur
2. Heat And Performance
  1. Lab Setting
    1. Tempratures above 32 will impair mental perfamce after two houses of expsure for unaccliazation
  2. Industrial Settings
    1. Exosure to industrail heat can cause dehydration, loss of salt, and musle fatgue, which taken together can reduce endurance and heance impair performance
    2. Care is generally taken to ensure that workers have an adequente intake of water and do wear the proper clothing and time to adapt
  3. Classroom Settings
    1. In nonclimate controlled schools, academic perframnce showed more variance as tempature rose
      1. 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
  4. Military Settings
    1. Tropical regions from ore moderate climates suffered serious deteration in combat effectivness within three days and become in effect "heat casualties
      1. Solutions invovle allowing several days for acclimaztion or expanding the number of troops available to allow for hear casusalties
  5. 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
3. Heat And Attraction
  1. We should exprect a decrease in interpersonal attaction when we are expericneing the unplrasent effecys of either debilatng heat or cold
    1. There are suggestions that heat may have a realatvly minor inflince on attraction under other cimrcumstance
4. Heat And Aggression
  1. 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
    1. This is known as the "LONG HOT SUMMER EFFECT"
  2. They are finding that more violent cremas including sex crimes seem to incrase with tempaerture
  3. Types Of Studies With Heat And Aggression
    1. GRAPHIC REGION STUDIES: this compares crime rates across differnce regions of a contry
    2. 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
    3. CONCOMITANT TEMPATURE STUDY: this is when the temp is knwon at the actualy time of the violance
      1. For example they found that automobile drivers hinked their horns more when temp went above 29
  4. Negative Effect Modle
    1. 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
5. Heat And Helping Behavior
  1. Williness to help seems to decline as the temp riases but they still find it hard to find a relationship between help and heat
Cold And...
1. Cold And Physical Reactions
  1. PERIPHERAL VASOCNSTRION: keeps heat within the body
  2. PILOERCTION: this is the stiffing of the hairs on the skin "goose bumps"
  3. Acclination to cold enviorments may take several forms
    1. Elevated metebloism to keep body temp high
    2. Core tempature dropping at night
2. Cold And Health
  1. With the right clothing and shelter you really should be ok further mental health really does not seem to be effected by cold temps
3. Cold And Performance
  1. 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
4. Cold And Crime
  1. Found fewer sex crime were reported on cold days and overall found that cold harsh wether seems to incrases helping behavior and reduct crime
Altitude And..
1. Altitude And Physical Effects
  1. Visitirs to high altitude areeas are likely to experence deeper and perhaps more rapid breathing to help compensate for hypoxia
  2. Acclimaxtion to the enviorment at these elvation does still occuer
  3. Hazards seem to occuer when pressure is extreme
    1. Incrased breathing diffaculty
    2. Oxygen poisoning caused by breathing
    3. Nitogen posioning
    4. Decompression Sickness caused by bubble form in bodt tissue
2. Altitude And Behavior
  1. Generally, learning of new things is more affected by high altitudes than is recall os pervously learned materal
  2. Research have observed three types of effect that air pressure changes have on people
    1. 1. Medical complaints
    2. 2. Incrased suside rates
    3. 3. Increased disrutive behavior

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Ch 6: Weather, Climate, And Behavior

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	Created by Elisa Blasi over 10 years ago