How Seasons Affect Your Values

This piece, by Onno Berkan, was published on 10/01/24. The original piece, by Anvita Patwardhan, was published in the Scientific American.

New survey results have suggested that people’s judgements of right and wrong can change with the seasons. The survey looked at values such as loyalty, authority, and purity and found that they were weaker during the summer and winter. Other values, such as care and fairness, were found to have no seasonal pattern. 

To explain this, the increased anxiety felt during the fall and spring has been suggested as a potential cause for this difference. Anxiety felt during the fall and spring was associated with threat, showing that people may feel less trustful and may be likelier to conform during these times. 

One caveat with the study was that the participant pool was biased and lacked diversity. This may have caused the experiences of marginalized peoples’ to be ignored. This seasonal shift in judgment may affect court decisions, campaigns, and even elections.

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