2007

Author(s): Van De Vliert E

The circumstances under which societies adapt their cultural values to cold, temperate, and hot climates include the availability of money to cope with climate. In a country-level study, collective income, household income, and economic growth were conceptualized as moderators of the climate-culture link because money is primarily used to satisfy homeostatic needs for thermal comfort, nutrition, and health. The results demonstrate that members of societies in more-demanding climates endorse survival values at the expense of self-expression values to the extent that they are poorer (n Euro Surveillance (Bulletin Europeen Sur Les Maladies Transmissibles; European Communicable Disease Bulletin) 74 nations), that household incomes in these lower-income societies are lower (it Euro Surveillance (Bulletin Europeen Sur Les Maladies Transmissibles; European Communicable Disease Bulletin) 66 nations), and that they face more economic recession (n Euro Surveillance (Bulletin Europeen Sur Les Maladies Transmissibles; European Communicable Disease Bulletin) 38 nations). In addition to theoretical implications, the findings have practical implications for the cultural consequences of global warming and the effectiveness of financing for human development.

Journal: Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology