Weather on the Brain I: A Theoretical View on Needs to Think About Weather

Abstract

This paper explores the theoretical nature of a proposed need for cognition about weather. Whereas nature connectedness concerns a sense of communion with rivers, lakes, trees, and so forth, we propose that some people manifest a more specific form of connection directed to the weather–the atmospheric phenomena and conditions–which occurs in nature. Theory, evidence, and applications of this potential construct are discussed.

Weather Salience: A Preliminary Investigation into Relationships with the Big Five Personality Traits, Exposure to Severe Weather Events, Weather Anxiety, and Storm Safety Behaviors

“…This study examined a novel aspect of responses and sensitivities to weather that expands the concept of weather salience beyond Stewart's (2009) framework of general and positive aspects of weather-oriented attention, to include aspects of a need for cognition about weather (Bolton & Lazzaro, 2022), weather curiosity (for hazard information; explain a more nuanced model of weather protective actions. Therefore, while we make recommendations for further refinement, in addition to testing predictions about personality and weather salience, we also improved upon these measures through a few useful empirical observations.…”

“…It did, however, individually predict storm fear. Thus, storm anxiety seems a special kind of fear-not merely an outcome of emotional instability in and of itself but also a fear subtype which is influenced by external factors as well as those within the individual (Bolton & Lazzaro, 2022;Coleman et al, 2014;Watt & DiFrancescantonio, 2012).…”

“…While not an entirely limiting factor, it does bear noting that we sampled very few people actually fearful of storms and severe weather conditions in general, which made it perhaps more difficult to robustly examine our variables-of-interest. Future research should thus target more specifically weather-fearful people and may, also, need to address openness to nature and the outdoors (e.g., Richardson et al, 2019;andsee Bolton, 2021 andLazzaro. 2022 for related discussion), or characteristics more specific than neuroticism in order to elucidate personalitysalience connections.…”

“…Still, there are many understudied aspects of weather salience and it is also reasonable to suggest that Stewart's (2009) concept is only one model for the ways weather can be salient to a person. For example, Stewart (2017) has examined perceptual weather curiosity as a specific manifestation of broad psychological attention to weather; Bolton and Lazzaro (2022) proposed, and Bolton (2021) quantified, that there exists a need for cognition about weather; and Bolton et al (2022) quantified an epistemic weather curiosity which includes both a desire to learn weather science and to obtain hazard and other information relating to weather. Weather salience is thus a much larger construct; in Stewart's model it primarily deals with positive aspects of weatheroriented attention.…”

“Lay Beliefs About Phobias” 25 Years Later: A 2020 Conceptual Replication of Furnham (1995), on the Development of Phobias

“…One example is the distinction between social and specific phobias codified within the DSM-5 (APA, 2013). Many perspectives exist and views differ based on the type of phobia being discussed; social phobia, for example, might include biological or life-experiential factors (Wong & Rapee, 2015) while environmental phobias such as those relating to thunderstorms may include cognitive or cultural factors among others (Watt & DiFrancescantonio, 2012;Bolton & Lazzaro, 2021). Coelho and Purkis (2009) emphasize five of the most contemporary pathways to phobia development.…”