Temperature and aggression: Ubiquitous effects of heat on occurrence of human violence.

Anderson, Craig A.·1989·Psychological Bulletin

Abstract

Outlines 5 models of the temperature-aggression hypothesis: negative affect escape, simple negative affect, excitation transfer/misattribution, cognitive neoassociation, and physiological-thermoregulatory. Reviews relevant studies. Aggression measures include violent crime, spouse abuse, horn-honking, and delivery of electric shock. Analysis levels include geographic regional, seasonal, monthly, and daily variations in aggression, and concomitant temperature-aggression effects in field and laboratory settings. Field studies clearly show that heat increases aggression. Laboratory studies show inconsistencies, possibly because of several artifacts. Specific models have not been adequately tested, but the excitation transfer/misattribution and cognitive neoassociation approaches appear most promising, whereas the negative affect escape appears the least viable. Suggestions for future work are made.

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Cited by (12)

  1. External validity of "trivial" experiments: The case of laboratory aggression.
    Anderson, Craig A., Bushman, Brad J. · 1997 · Review of General Psychology
  2. Heat and Violence
    Anderson, Craig A. · 2001 · Current Directions in Psychological Science
  3. Contextual sensitivity in scientific reproducibility
    Van Bavel, Jay J., Mende-Siedlecki, Peter, Brady, William J., Reinero, Diego A. · 2016 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  4. Violence and U.S. regional culture.
    Nisbett, Richard E. · 1993 · American Psychologist
  5. Pain and aggression: Some findings and implications
    Berkowitz, Leonard · 1993 · Motivation and Emotion

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Temperature and aggression: Ubiquitous effects of heat on occurrence of human violence. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1037//0033-2909.106.1.74
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Anderson, C. A. (1989). Temperature and aggression: Ubiquitous effects of heat on occurrence of human violence. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.106.1.74

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