While summer temperatures have risen sharply all week, you may have felt a hint of aggression rising. Well, know that you are not the only one.
- For the human body to function properly, its temperature must fluctuate around 37°.
- The ideal ambient temperature for the body is around 25°.
According to several studies, crime and aggression increase when it is very hot. Research conducted in Los Angeles recently calculated that “overall crime increases by 2.2% and violent crime by 5.7% on days when temperatures are above 29.4°C compared to those when they are below this threshold”. This trend can also be seen in London, where the murder rate increases by around 3% in hot weather.
Only one additional degree plays on the aggressiveness
In Mexico, a study much larger compared court data from 1997 to 2012 with data from the National Weather Service. “Research shows that one additional degree increases the charge rate for all types of crimes by 1.3%,” concluded the research team.
To explain this phenomenon, researchers put forward several factors that trigger aggression: lack of sleep due to the heat, alcohol consumption, which increases with summer evenings, and frequentation (therefore altercations) which multiply with the arrival of fine weather.
Heat acts directly on the body
Nevertheless, a final study shows that heat acts directly on the body. Researchers tested 64 students, giving them the possibility of triggering (false) electric shocks on interlocutors who provoked them verbally, either in a cold environment or in a hot environment. Conclusion: when the temperature increased, the young people became more aggressive and chose to trigger shocks against their attacker. It remains to be seen what are the biological elements that cause this aggressiveness in the heat.
.
