Moral judgments may change with the seasons.

Moral judgments may change with the seasons.

Written by Anvita Patwardhan

As leaves fall, snow falls, and flowers bloom, humans change in measurable ways. Studies show that a variety of psychological phenomena, such as emotional states, occur. Diet and exercise habits, sexual intercourse And even Color preference—It fluctuates throughout the year. And now the research at Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America It also shows how moral values ​​can change.

For the study, researchers analyzed 10 years’ worth of more than 230,000 online survey responses from people in the United States and small groups in Canada and Australia. The questions were based on a standardized framework that social scientists use to assess people’s judgments of right and wrong. The framework is called moral foundations theory, and it sets out a taxonomy of “five fundamental values ​​that shape human social behavior,” says lead author Ian Holm, a psychology graduate student at the University of British Columbia.

The framework views loyalty (commitment to one’s group), authority (respect for leaders and rules), and purity (cleanliness and piety) as “binding” values ​​that promote group cohesion and conformity. These principles, often associated with political conservatism, consistently received weaker support in summer and winter, and the effect was more pronounced in summer when seasonal weather differences were greater. (An additional group studied in the UK showed changes only in summer.)

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Consideration (not harming others) and fairness (equal treatment) are considered “individualizing” values ​​of individual rights. These principles did not show consistent seasonal patterns.

One explanation for seasonal changes could be anxiety. Using a survey data set of 90,000 respondents and data on Internet search frequency, the researchers found that anxiety levels peaked in spring and autumn. “There’s a close relationship between anxiety and feeling threatened,” says study co-author Brian O’Shea, a psychologist at the University of Nottingham. Other studies have found that people who feel more vulnerable to seasonal illnesses Be more distrustful, More xenophobic and More likely to follow the majority opinion. “When you feel threatened,” O’Shea explains, “you want to be protected by your in-group.” The study authors say the findings suggest that seasonal timing could influence jury decisions, vaccination campaigns, and even election outcomes.

Ivory A. Toldson, a Howard University psychologist who studies practical applications of statistics, cautions that the study relies on data from a “Western, educated, industrialized, affluent, and democratic” (WEIRD) population, and that generalizing these results risks “overlooking the unique moral experiences of marginalized groups.” Home agrees that these patterns won’t affect everyone in the same way, but he emphasizes that the study highlights the influence of seasons on human psychology.

“One thing this article shows is that we are very seasonal creatures,” says Norman Rosenthal, a psychiatrist at Georgetown University School of Medicine who coined the term seasonal affective disorder in the 1980s. “Your internal state definitely affects your behavior.”