Statewide Iowa — A new book from researchers at Iowa State University asserts that hotter weather brought on by climate change can make people more aggressive.
Lead author Andreas Miles-Novelo, an ISU psychology graduate student, says decades of studies demonstrate how hotter temperatures alter the way people around the globe think and interact with each other.
In the book “Climate Change and Human Behavior,” the authors show how hotter weather and more frequent and severe weather events can influence individuals and groups, escalating political unrest, civil war and other forms of violence. The research finds people who are uncomfortably hot perceive others as behaving aggressively, which raises the odds of a hostile confrontation. Police officers are sworn to uphold the law but they’re still human and may be swayed by steamy weather.
It’s asserted that climate change brings more extreme and frequent droughts, wildfires, floods and hurricanes, and people everywhere will be at higher risk to fall victim to crime, hunger and poverty. Still, he says it appears too much hot weather can actually chill heated aggression levels.
The opposite is also true, he says, as aggression levels rise when it gets uncomfortably cold, but once it gets exceptionally frigid, the focus is on finding shelter. With hot weather and a worsening drought in the forecast, all is not lost. Miles-Novelo says proactively addressing challenges now could help to stave off some of the long-term troubles they predict for the future.
