Feeling morally positive in summer? There’s a reason for that

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People’s morals can shift with the seasons, according to research from UBC that could have implications for the timing of major events, including elections.

A study that looked at more than a decade’s worth of interviews, survey data and online searches found that people were more likely to endorse group values like loyalty and respect for authority in the spring and autumn than in the summer and winter.

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But endorsement of values that emphasize individual rights, such as fairness and caring for others, was less likely to be influenced by the seasons.

“Different emotions have different seasonal patterns,” said Ian Holm, a doctoral student in psychology at UBC and lead author of the study.

One possible explanation for the findings is that anxiety levels peak in the spring and autumn months.

“I feel anxious and that kind of makes me want to endorse these more traditional values that cause people to close ranks,” Holm said. “I feel a bit more in control.”

The findings, published in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are based on over 230,000 responses to an online survey and analysis of Google search terms over 10 years.

Holm said the findings were remarkably consistent.

Individual values were less affected by changes in seasons than group values, such as loyalty, purity and respect for authority, which are referred to by researchers as “binding” values because they encourage conformity to group norms and closely align with modern political conservatism.

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Holm said the summer dip in endorsement of binding values was most pronounced in regions with greater climate variation. That suggests there could be some kind of “sunshine effect” — people are less inclined to have negative moods when it’s sunny outside.

As for why endorsement of binding values dips in winter, particularly December and January, it probably has less to do with weather and more to do with cultural practices and the winter holiday season soothing people’s anxieties.

But Holm cautioned against oversimplifying the findings.

“I would guess that people with different occupations and at different life stages might have entirely different seasonal patterns,” he said.

The findings could have wide-reaching implications on elections, legal judgments and future pandemic responses. When trying to persuade people to do things, then you might adjust your messaging based on the time of year, he said.

“The timing of political elections might plausibly have some subtle effect on election results,” the study states. “Similarly, the timing of unexpected events — such as disease outbreaks — might affect people’s responses to them.”

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“I think it’s worthwhile to try to find out in the millions of criminal court cases that are happening in many countries every year … whether there’s any sort of inequality or unfairness or just random noise that’s being created in the legal system by these sorts of changes,” Holm said, questioning whether someone gets a lighter sentence in the summer than in the fall.

The researchers noted limitations to their study. Results were most pronounced in the U.S., and respondents in Canada and Australia exhibited similar responses. However, results from the U.K. did not report a winter dip in endorsement of binding moral values, though summer results were similar to those in the U.S.

“There’s likely cross-cultural variation,” Holm said of the U.K. findings, noting that the patterns might be different for cultures with different seasonal traditions.

With files from Douglas Quan 

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