Is It Hot Outside? You Might Be More Likely to Believe in Global Warming

TIME:

A study recently published in Psychological Science suggests that daily weather dictates climate change opinion, indicating that “irrelevant environmental information, such as the current weather, can affect judgments.”

Researchers from the Columbia University Center for Decision Sciences asked residents in the United States and Australia to detail their climate change opinions and report whether the day’s temperature was warmer or colder than usual.  They found that “respondents who thought that day was warmer than usual believed more in and had greater concern about global warming than respondents who thought that day was colder than usual. They also donated more money to a global-warming charity if they thought that day seemed warmer than usual.” Such reasoning oversimplifies and belies the true nature of the climate change debate.