人以天地之气生:气象对人类心理与行为的影响

Meteorological psychology:The psychological and behavioral effects of weather and climate

从情绪波动到文明兴衰,研究者愈来愈意识到大气现象对人类的重要影响。气象心理学涵盖天气和气候这两大类大气现象作用于人类个体和群体的心理与行为乃至文化特征的各种研究。在个体心理层面,温度、湿度、日照等气象因素会影响个体情绪、工作记忆和认知能力。在个体行为层面,人际亲和行为和反社会行为也会被天气左右。在群体和文化层面,从长程上考察,气温和降水量与多尺度人类群体冲突爆发密切相关;气候冷暖和资源多寡也会共同形塑当地族群的文化心理行为特征。人类世界始终嵌入于天气和气候等宏观生态环境中并受其影响,气象心理学应当在心理学研究体系中占有一席之地。

Researchers increasingly acknowledge the importance of the effects of meteorological conditions on human life, ranging from individual emotion swings to the rise and collapse of civilizations. ＂Meteorological psychology＂ refers to the study of the influence of two meteorological conditions, weather （short-term） and climate （long-term）, on multilevel psychological and behavioral functions from individual cognition and emotion, to group dynamics, and further to institutional and cultural traits. Weather and climate related factors like the temperature, humidity, precipitation, sunlight exposure and duration systematically influence （1） individual psychological conditions including emotions, working memory, and cognitive abilities, （2） individual behaviors such as interpersonal affinity and anti-social behaviors, and （3） group dynamics and culture such as interpersonal and group conflicts. Furthermore, climatic demands together with resource sufficiency significantly shape local cultural characteristics. Considering that human society is deeply and constantly embedded in and impacted by meteorological conditions, meteorological psychology should be integrated as an important research field into the discipline of psychology.