Running head: EXTREME TEMPERATURE AND MOOD 8
Extreme Temperatures Affect Our Mood
Oualidslim Gharbi
Community College of Aurora
Extreme Temperatures Affect Our Mood
The weather controls every aspect of our daily lives. It influences our choices and decisions on what to wear, what to eat, and what kind of activities we should do. Ancient civilizations feared and respected the power of the weather. They created and worshiped different weather gods. During extreme weather conditions such as during dry seasons and floods, they used human sacrifices to appeal to the god of sun or to the god of the rain. Survival and biological necessity defined the relationship between men and the weather. Even with the advance of science and philosophy in the next civilizations, the study of weather was primary linked to a physiological and biological needs. Research studies with psychological approach were rare and often ignored because scientists and researchers did not believe in weather's psychological effects on humans.
According to the French philosopher Blaise Pascal, who strongly denied any correlation between weather and mood, " the weather and my mood have little connection. I have my foggy and my fine days within me; my prosperity and my misfortune has nothing to do with the matter" ( n d). Thanks to the psychological revolution in 1950's, more research studies have dedicated a lot of thought to this relationship between weather and mood. As a result of a special interest in this correlation between weather and mood, much research has been performed to demonstrate that weather has influence over people's emotion and behavior. Keller et al.(2005) investigated the effect of temperature, pressure, and the time spent outside on the psychological processes.( Keller et al., 2005). Their research study demonstrated that sunny weather with high temperature and high pressure has a positive...