Is the curve relating temperature to aggression linear or curvilinear? Assaults and temperature in Minneapolis reexamined

    Authors

    B. J. Bushman; M. C. Wang;C. A. Anderson

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Pers. Soc. Psychol.

    Keywords

    aggression; assault; heat; hot; temperature; AMBIENT-TEMPERATURE; COLLECTIVE VIOLENCE; HEAT; AROUSAL; TESTS; MODEL; Psychology, Social

    Abstract

    Using archival data from Minneapolis recorded in 3-hr time intervals, E. G. Cohn and J. Rotton (1997) concluded that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between temperature and assault, with the maximum assault rate occurring at 74.9 F. They depicted this relationship by plotting temperature against assault. This plot, however, fails to take into account time of day. Time of day was strongly related to both temperature and assault, but in opposite directions. Between 9:00 p.m. and 2:59 a.m. of the next day, when most assaults occurred, there was a positive linear relationship between temperature and assault. The Minneapolis data actually provide stronger support of a positive linear (or monotonic) relationship between temperature and assault than of an inverted U-shaped relationship.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    Volume

    89

    Issue/Number

    1

    Publication Date

    1-1-2005

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    62

    Last Page

    66

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000230879100005

    ISSN

    0022-3514

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