Do colder and hotter climates make richer societies more, but poorer societies less, happy and altruistic?

Evert Van de Vliert*, Xu Huang, Philip M. Parker

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

56 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Physiological needs for thermal comfort, nutritional comfort, and healthiness make colder and hotter climates more demanding than more temperate climates. Affluence may help to meet those thermal demands. Two country-level studies indeed show that thermal demands (colder and hotter climates) and wealth-related resources (higher income per capita) are joint roots of happiness (N=55) and altruism (N=71). In colder climates richer societies are more but poorer societies are less happy and altruistic. In hotter climates richer societies are happier but poorer societies are unhappier. In both colder and hotter climates richer societies tend to be happier at the expense of being more altruistic whereas poorer societies tend to be more altruistic at the expense of being happier. The findings generate a demands–resources theory on self- and other-directed consequences of thermoclimate.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)17-30
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Environmental Psychology
Volume24
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2004

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Applied Psychology

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