Studies add to the literature showing how people act out aggressively when it’s hot.
Working under such sweltering, dangerous conditions has subjected some postal workers to a hostile working environment. The peer-reviewedpublished last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science found that on days above 90 degrees, workers faced heightened workplace harassment and discrimination from managers and supervisors.
The study, by PhD candidate Ayushi Narayan at Harvard University, examined over 800,000 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges filed by Postal Service employees between 2004 and 2019. The report found that such incidents increased by roughly 5 percent on days over 90 degrees compared with days when temperatures were between 60 and 70 degrees.“I find that incidents rise when the temperatures are high,” Narayan said.
The Postal Service did not immediately reply to questions about the study, and the American Postal Workers Union declined to comment.Heat as an aggravator isn’t a new concept. For years psychologists and social scientists have documented the relationship among high temperatures, aggressive motivation and behavior, and crime.point to the fact that the human body generates adrenaline in response to excessive heat, which can lead to aggression as a side effect.
“As global warming increases, there will be, in fact already is, an increase in the frequency with which people are uncomfortably warm or uncomfortably hot,” Anderson said. “That in itself can lead to decision-making and behaviors that are more aggressive and under some circumstances can lead to increases in violent behavior.”
Other field studies Anderson has reviewed found that homicides, major assaults, police calls, domestic violence and other violent behavior all increase when temperatures are higher.
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