Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

1979, Vol. 37, No. 11, 1947-1956

Weather, Mood, and Helping Behavior: Quasi Experiments With
the Sunshine Samaritan
Michael R. Cunningham
Elmhurst College
To establish the relationship of weather variables with helping behavior, two
quasi-experimental field studies were conducted. In the first study, executed
in the spring and summer and subsequently replicated in the winter, the amount
of sunshine reaching the earth was found to be a strong predictor of a partici-
pant's willingness to assist an interviewer. Smaller relationships were also
found between helping and temperature, humidity, wind velocity, and lunar
phase. A second study was conducted indoors to control for comfort factors,
and sunshine, lunar phase, and participant's age and sex were found to predict
the generosity of the tip left for a restaurant waitress. Sunshine and temperature
temperature were also significantly related to self-reports of mood.
So many things I would have done, but clouds got
in my way. . . . (Joni Mitchell, "Both Sides Now")
One of the most pervasive background en-
vironmental variables in human life, a factor
that shapes agricultural economies, makes or
breaks recreational plans, and serves as a
perennial topic for superficial conversation, is
the weather. Yet although the weather ap-
pears to affect both emotion and social be-
havior (Campbell & Beets, 1977; for reviews,
see Huntington, 1945; Larson, 196S; Moos,
1976; Tromp, 1974; Winslow & Herrington,
1949), the specific weather variables most
closely associated with behavior changes re-
main obscure.
A brief scan of some of the research litera-
ture will illustrate the wide variety of meteor-
Thanks to Thomas Brothen, Charles Carver, Caro-
lyn Cunningham, William Graziano, Alice Isen, Mi-
chael Louguee, Paul Rosenblatt, Catherine Thayer,
Sandra Titus, and Hans Wendt for their insightful
comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.
Grateful appreciation also to Paul Cronstrom, Mike
Fleming, Ruth Nachman, Linda Rudin, and Cindy
Weber for their help as experimenters, and to the
staff of the Minneapolis-St. Paul station of the Na-
tional Weather Service and the manager and wait-
resses of Henrici's Restaurant for their invaluable as-
sistance.
Requests for reprints should be sent to the author,
Department of Psychology, Elmhurst College, Elm-
hurst, Illinois 60126.
ological indices purportedly linked to various
human behaviors.
Dexter (1904), for example, found very low
barometric pressure, excessive humidity, and
abnormal winds to be related to poor student
deportment and increased teacher use of cor-
poral punishment. Deteriorating or stormy
weather has also been related to reduced task
performance by workers (Muecher & Unge-
heuer, 1961). Weather has also been impli-
cated in psychological disturbances; Mills
(1934) and Digon and Bock (1966) found a
relationship between low barometric pressure,
which usually characterizes stormy days, and
suicide, whereas Lester (1970) obtained a
relationship between the amount of snow dur-
ing the winter months and the frequency of
suicide.
The sky conditions may also affect mood or
psychological well-being. Winslow and Her-
rington (1936) found a correlation of .78 be-
tween the amount of sunshine apparent on a
given day and judgments of atmospheric
"pleasantness" (associations were also found
with increased barometric pressure and de-
creased humidity). Finally, Persinger (1975)
observed that low moods in his 10 subjects
were associated with fewer hours of sunshine
and high humidity.
Although the foregoing studies suggested
that weather may influence emotion and be-
Copyright 1979 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0022-3514/79/3711-1947$00.75
1947
1948
MICHAEL R. CUNNINGHAM
havior, straightforward conclusions are diffi-
cult. In no study have all of the implicated
weather variables been considered simulta-
neously to determine the relative strength of
their relationships with behavior. In addition,
a number of the studies suffered from the
methodological weakness of using indices
based on the average level of a given weather
variable, and the frequency of a certain be-
havior within relatively wide time blocks,
such as a day, week, or month, to establish a
relationship (e.g., Banziger & Owens, 1978).
But since a day or week in which tempera-
tures varied from 30 F to 70 F (-1 C to
21 C) produces a different experience from
a stable 50 F (9 C) day, such summary
statistics may be highly misleading. Further,
if weather and behavior are not sampled con-
currently, it is difficult to eliminate the argu-
ment that purported weather effects are due
to some third variable or by-product of the
weather (e.g., mobility restriction).
The use of experimentally controlled en-
vironments would eliminate these objections.
Griffitt and Veitch (1971) found that under
conditions of manipulated high temperature,
participants' evaluation of both other people
and the experimental environment was sig-
nificantly more negative than under condi-
tions of comfortable temperature. Correspond-
ing changes in the participant self-ratings of
affect suggest that the temperature effects
probably were mediated by alterations in the
individual's mood. Subsequent work has indi-
cated that there may be an upper limit to the
temperature-aggression relationship; too
much heat may actually inhibit aggression
(Baron & Bell, 197,6).
Yet although temperature can be easily
manipulated, controlling humidity, barometric
pressure, wind velocity, and amount of sun-
shine in a factorial design seems unfeasible.
A compromise would be to adopt a quasi-ex-
perimental design (Campbell & Stanley, 1963)
in which uncontrolled variations in the
weather are systematically observed and re-
lated to changes in a carefully measured de-
pendent variable using randomly selected sub-
jects.
Helping or altruism is a social behavior that
has been found to vary as a function of the
mood or emotional state of the subject (Cun-
ningham, Steinberg, & Grev, in press). If the
weather affects individuals' emotional state or
sense of well-being, then it might be expected
to affect helping, and two studies tentatively
suggested such a relationship. Lockard, Mc-
Donald, Clifford, and Martinez (1976) re-
ported that panhandlers were more successful
in spring than in autumn, and Cialdini, Vin-
cent, Lewis, Catalan, Wheeler, and Darby
(1975) footnoted a similar observation.
Neither study, however, connected a specific
weather variable to an increase in helping.
The present series of studies was designed
to assess the impact of a variety of weather,
climatic, and air quality indicators on helping,
using two different indices. The first study,
concerned with helping an interviewer, was
initially conducted outdoors during the late
spring and summer and was subsequently rep-
licated during the winter. The second study
involved restaurant tipping, and data were
collected indoors during the early spring.
Predictions for the effects of weather on
both forms of helping were drawn from the
results of the earlier research. Since behavior
seemed to be adversely affected by low baro-
metric pressure and high humidity, negative
correlations were predicted for those variables
with interpersonal helping. Although previous
research has found only that mood was ad-
versely affected by high temperature, it is
reasonable to imagine that mood may be de-
pressed by the cold as well. An inverted
U-shaped relationship was thus predicted for
temperature and helping, with the most help-
ing expected at moderate temperatures. Fi-
nally, since mood seemed to be affected by
sunlight, a positive correlation was predicted
between helping and the amount of sunshine
reaching the earth due to the absence of cloud
cover.
Experiment 1
Method
Participants. Data were gathered outdoors from
540 participants at two off-campus locations in the
city of Minneapolis and two locations on the main
campus of the University of Minnesota. Every 3rd
individual over the apparent age of 16 passing the
experimenter was approached, and the estimated age
WEATHER, MOOD, AND HELPING
1949
and sex of the subject were recorded. Fifteen par-
ticipants were approached each day during the after-
noon on 36 weekdays randomly selected during the
spring and summer of 1974 and the winter and early
spring of 1974-1975. An average of 4 people each
day refused to stop for the study and were not in-
cluded in the primary analyses. Temperatures ranged
from 18 C to 38 C. Data were not collected dur-
ing any periods of precipitation.
Procedure. One male and one female were em-
ployed as experimenters each season. One female was
used in winter and another in summer. One experi-
menter was blind to the purposes of the experiment
each season. The measure of helpfulness was obtained
by approaching passersby with the statement:
Hi. I'm from the sociology department of the Uni-
versity of Minnesota and we're conducting a sur-
vey of social opinions. Although the survey is 80
questions long, you don't have to answer all the
questions. How many questions would you be will-
ing to answer for me?
The number of questions the participant was willing
to answer was employed as an interval measure of
helping. Participants were then debriefed following
their response.
Weather readings taken at the beginning of the
specific hour in which the participants were ap-
proached were employed as predictor variables. Sep-
arate estimates were obtained of the amount of sun-
light reaching the earth, atmospheric temperature,
barometric pressure, relative humidity, wind velocity,
and lunar phase. To determine if changing weather
had an effect, the increase or decrease in temperature
and barometric pressure over the last hour and last
3 hours prior to the behavioral measurement was
calculated. Three measures of air pollution were also
included: carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide levels, and
Apex, a weighted composite of CO, SO
2
, and par-
ticulate levels. Weather readings were obtained from
the National Weather Service, Minneapolis-St. Paul
Forecast Office, with the exceptions of sunshine level,
which was obtained by incident light reading using
a Gossen Luna-Pro light meter, and lunar phase,
obtained from an almanac.
Results
Preliminary analysis revealed no association
between the age and sex of the subjects or
location and the weather variables. This inde-
pendence, and the well-trafficked public places
used for sampling, supported the assumption
of random assignment of subject to weather
conditions and the employment of each sub-
ject as an independent case. There was also
no association between experimenters and
helping.
A general regression equation was computed
for the summer, the winter, and the combined
data, using the 13 weather variables as pre-
dictors of helping. Each of the three regres-
sion equationsfor the summer, F(13, 256)
= 7.41, p < .001; winter, /?(13, 256) = 7.47,
p < .001; and combined sample, F(13, 526)
= 8.99, p < .001was highly significant and,
analogous to a significant overall F test in
analysis of variance (ANOVA), justified ex-
amination of the individual correlations. The
Pearson correlations between the weather var-
iables and helping are presented in Table 1.
The most significant variable in this study,
across both summer and winter, was sunshine.
People were likely to be more helpful when
the sky was clear and a large amount of sun-
shine was striking the earth, compared to
when the sky was cloudy and less sunlight
reached ground level. The positive association
of sunshine with helping can apparently not
be attributed to temperature, since the corre-
lation between the two variables was moder-
ate, r(538) = .29, p < .001, and in the partial
correlation analysis described below, both var-
iables contributed independently to the pre-
diction of helping.
Temperature was also a significant predic-
tor of helping, although the nature of the rela-
tionship varied from summer to winter. Con-
sistent with predictions, temperature was
negatively associated with helping in the sum-
mer and positively related to helping in the
winter. To determine if the relationship of
temperature with helping was nonlinear, a
curvilinear equation was constructed. Tem-
perature scores were divided into seven equal
intervals and were weighted to produce a
curve with an apex centering about 19 C
(65 F), consistent with the experimentally
obtained optimal outdoor temperature for
clothed active individuals (Yaglow & Miller,
1925). The correlation of the curvilinear
equation with helping was positive, r(538) =
.30, p < .001, and was significantly better
than the linear relationship of temperature
with helping, z - 2.11, p < .02.
Further, both sunshine and the curvilinear
temperature index were employed in a general
regression equation to predict helping. Both
sunshine and curvilinear temperature were
significant, F( 2 , 537) = 55.82 and 31.11, re-
1950
MICHAEL R. CUNNINGHAM
Table 1
Correlations of Weather and Subject Variables With Amount of Help Offered an Interviewer
Item
Sunshine
Temperature
Temperature increase (1 hr.)
Temperature increase (3 hrs.)
Barometric pressure
Barometric pressure increase (1 hr.)
Barometric pressure increase (3 hrs.)
Relative humidity
Wind velocity
Air pollution index (Apex)
Sulfur dioxide
Carbon monoxide
Lunar phase
0
Age
Sex
b
Summer
.32***
-.16*
-.19**
-.05
.03
.21***
.23***
-.19**
.20**
.11*
.02
.12*
-.15*
-.10*
.03
Winter
.40***
.37***
-.09
-.01
.05
-.11*
-.02
-.22***
-.15*
-.12*
-.26***
-.16*
-.16*
.01
.16*
Combined
.36***
.11***
-.13***
-.03
.04
.07
.09
-.20***
.01
-.02
-.15***
-.03
-.15***
.04
.10
Note. Summer and winter MS = 270.
a
Large value = f ul l moon.
b
Large value = female.
* p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .005.
spectively, p < .001, with sunshine accounting
for 13% and curvilinear temperature account-
ing for S % of the total variance in helping.
Another predicted significant association
found in this study was a negative correlation
between relative humidity and helping. Peo-
ple were more likely to be helpful when the
humidity was low than when the humidity
was high.
As a converse to temperature, wind velocity
was positively correlated with helping in the
summer but negatively correlated with help-
ing in the winter. This is reasonable, since a
cooling breeze provides a desirable relief from
summer heat but is an undesirable contributor
to wind chill in the winter months.
Unexpectedly, a small negative relationship
was found between lunar phase and helping.
In both summer and winter, people seemed to
be less helpful when the moon was full than
when the moon was less full. Further analyses
reported below, however, raise questions con-
cerning this relationship.
A number of other correlations of weather
variables with helping appear in Table 1 for
one season but not for the other. Each of
these variables correlated more highly with
another weather variable than they did with
helping, and they must be regarded as un-
reliable until they are replicated.
1
Partial correlation analyses were conducted
to determine the relative independence and
strength of the significant weather variables
including sunshine, temperature, relative hu-
midity, wind velocity, and lunar phase. The
results of these analyses for the summer,
winter, and combined sample are presented in
Table 2.
The partial correlation analysis revealed
that sunshine, temperature, relative humidity,
and wind velocity were each significantly re-
lated to helping in the summer, in the same
directions as in the zero-order correlations. A
regression equation using these four predic-
1
A number of derived statistics involving combina-
tions of various weather variables were tried as pre-
dictors of helping. A discomfort index proposed by
the U.S. National Weather Service (Mather, 1974,
p. 245) , which consisted of a weighted multiplicative
equation involving temperature and humidity, proved
to be negatively related to helping but with a corre-
lation smaller than curvilinear temperature or humid-
ity separately, r(538) = -.13, p < .OS. A wind chill
statistic (Mather, 1974, p. 246) that attempted to
combine both temperature and wind velocity proved
unrelated to helping, r(538) = .03, ns, perhaps be-
cause of the curvilinear relation of temperature to
helping. Finally, a statistic proposed by Dirnagl
(1977) that combined temperature, humidity, and
barometric pressure showed only a modest association
with helping, r(538) = .14, p < .01.
WEATHER, MOOD, AND HELPING
1951
tors was highly significant, multiple R .44,
F< (4, 265) = 16.07, p < .001, and accounted
for 20% of the variance in helping, with sun-
shine accounting for 10% of the total vari-
ance. In the winter data, sunshine, tempera-
ture, and wind velocity were significantly re-
lated to helping, whereas humidity, although
in the right direction, was not significant. A
regression equation with these three signif-
icant weather variables was again significant,
multiple R = .49, F(3, 266) = 27.44, p <
.001, and accounted for 24% of the variance,
with sunshine accounting for 16% of the total
variance. Lunar phase was significant in
neither the summer nor the winter. Further,
because of the curvilinear relationship of tem-
perature and interactive relationship of wind
velocity with temperature and helping, the
partial correlation analysis on the combined
sample revealed only sunshine to be signif-
icantly associated with helping.
Discussion
This study found significant associations
between helping behavior and a number of
weather variables. In both zero-order and par-
tial correlation analysis, significant associa-
tions were found between sunshine and help-
ing in both seasons, such that helping was
greater on bright sunny days compared to
cloudy days. In both sets of analyses, helping
was greater during periods of cooler tempera-
ture and higher wind velocity in the summer,
and warmer temperature and lower wind
velocity in the winter. Helping was also
greater when the relative humidity was lower,
although in the partial correlation analyses
this association was significant only for the
summer data.
The association of lunar phase with helping
was ambiguous. While lunar phase was nega-
tively correlated with helping in the zero-
order correlations, no association of lunar
phase and helping was found in the partial
correlations. Since lunar phase was negatively
associated with other predictors of helping in
this samplee.g., sunshine and lunar phase,
r(538) = -.29, p < .001the original corre-
lations may have been spurious.
The association with helping of some of the
Table 2
Partial Correlations of Selected Weather
Variables With Helping
Item Summer Winter Combined
Sunshine
Temperature
Relative humidity
Wind velocity
Lunar phase"
.20***
-.26***
-.19***
.14**
-.02
.28***
.26***
-.07
-.12*
.03
.29***
-.002
-.OS
.02
-.05
Note. Summer and winter ns 270.
" Large value = full moon.
* p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.
weather variables, such as wind velocity, tem-
perature, and humidity, might be attributable
to the comfort or discomfort that the indi-
viduals anticipate experiencing while helping.
Being asked to answer some questions when
the temperature is low, for example, entails
spending additional time in the cold, and that
added cost factor could reduce helping.
The comfort interpretation seems less effec-
tive as an explanation of the sunshine rela-
tionship, however. During Minnesota winters
the temperature is often cold while the sky is
bright and clear. Considering just those cases
where the temperature was below freezing (0
C) and physical comfort was presumably
low, sunshine was still associated with a
greater likelihood of helping, r(177) = .23,
p < .01.
The role of comfort in the sunshine-helping
relationship might also be examined using the
data on the rate at which individuals refused
to stop and listen to the interviewer solicit
participation. Although this is an ambiguous
test of helping because people did not hear all
of the request, refusals at least were not based
on the length of time outdoors required for
helping. Nevertheless, fewer people refused to
stop, and thus more were helpful, on sunny
days than on cloudy days, r(l22) = . 32,
p < .01.
A more direct method for investigating the
role of comfort in the association of sunshine
and helping would be to use a setting in which
comfort factors such as temperature, humid-
ity, and wind velocity could be controlled,
whereas sunlight would be free to vary. A de-
pendent variable that does not require a time
1952
MICHAEL R. CUNNINGHAM
Table 3
Correlations of Age and Sex With Tipping
and Weather
Item Age r
Tip
Sunshine
Temperature
Barometric pressure
Relative humidity
Wind velocity
Lunar phase
b
.12*
.25***
-.54***
.24***
.20**
.42***
.02
29**
.24***
-.50***
.12*
.29***
.40***
.04
Note. N = 130.
1
Larger value = female.
b
Larger value = full moon.
* p < .09. ** p < .01. *** p < .002.
commitment would avoid the problem of the
linkage between helping and remaining in a
positive or negative environment. A follow-up
study was thus conducted that examined the
effects of weather on the tips left by patrons
of an indoor eating establishment.
the temperature ranged from 4 C (40 F) to 27 C
(81 F) outdoors and was at 21 C (70 F) indoors.
Six waitresses served to record data, and all were
blind to the purposes of the study. On each of the
designated days, one waitress was asked to record
information about the first 10 parties she waited on
after 1:00 p.m. The waitress recorded the number of
people in the group, the total amount of the check,
the amount of the gratuity, the approximate age and
sex of the person or persons leaving the tip, and
whether liquor was served. Prior to recording infor-
mation on the customers, the waitress was asked to
record her own mood on a S-point scale ranging from
good mood to bad mood. Waitresses were carefully
instructed in the use of the self-report scale and were
asked to be honest, since in a previous study, ran-
domly selected participants were found to be less
than adept in using introspective self-report scales
(Cunningham, Steinberg, & Grev, in press). For this
reason and to avoid becoming intrusive, the moods
of the tippers themselves were not assessed.
Weather information was obtained from the Na-
tional Weather Service, Chicago Forecast Office, and
included temperature, barometric pressure, and wind
velocity. Sunshine level and lunar phase were ob-
tained as in Study 1.
Experiment 2
Method
Data were gathered from 130 parties dining during
the afternoon at a moderately expensive climate-
controlled medium-sized restaurant at a shopping
center in a western suburb of Chicago. The study was
conducted during the afternoon on 13 randomly
selected days during the work week in April, May,
and June of 1978, and 10 parties were observed each
day. The restaurant had windows on two sides, and
Table 4
Correlations of Weather and Group
Characteristics With Percentage of
Check Left As Tip
Item
Sunshine
Temperature
Barometric pressure
Relative humidity
Wind velocity
Lunar phase"
Group size
Liquor served
Zero order
correlation
r
.20***
-.14**
-.05
.19**
.03
.14**
-.06
-.003
Age & sex
partialed
out r
.15**
-.02
-.08
.10*
-.08
.15**

Note. N = 130.
"Large value = full moon.
* p < .10. ** p < .05. *** p < .001.
Results
Since it is customary to leave as a gratuity
an amount of money proportional to the size
of the check, the principal dependent variable
analyzed in this study was the ratio of the
amount of money left as a tip to the total bill
for the meal. Prior to examining the effect of
weather on tipping, the relationship of
weather to the status variables age and sex
was examined to insure independent sam-
pling.
2
It was found, however, that there was
an association between weather and the age
and sex of people in the restaurant on a given
day. As Table 3 indicates, older people and
women were more likely to dine out when the
sunshine was bright, the weather was cool,
and the humidity, barometric pressure, and
wind velocity were high. Although these asso-
ciations are interesting in their own right,
since older people and women also left a more
substantial tip than the others, the analysis
of the impact of weather on tipping neces-
2
To insure that variations in tipping were not due
to the behavior of individual waitresses, an analysis
of variance was conducted, using the six waitresses
as independent variables. No effect due to waitresses
was found, F($, 124) = .025, ns.
WEATHER, MOOD, AND HELPING
1953
sarily must take into account this self-selec-
tion factor.
Although a regression equation using just
the seven weather variables was significant,
F((>, 123) = 4.24, p < .01, two sets of corre-
lations are presented in Table 4, the zero-
order correlation between each weather varia-
ble and tipping and second-order partial
correlations, with the association of age and
sex removed from the correlations of weather
and tipping. As Table 4 reveals, despite the
fact that sunshine was related to an increase
in the number of older people and females
dining, sunshine was nevertheless significantly
related to helping. This correlation was
smaller than in Experiment 1, which might
be expected, since participants were indoors
and were thus partially screened from effects
of the sun.
Although inspection of the zero-order corre-
lations suggested some reversals of the find-
ings of Experiment 1 with respect to tempera-
ture and humidity, the partial correlations
allayed such concerns. As might be expected
in a climate-controlled restaurant, outdoor
temperature, barometric pressure, and wind
velocity had no significant direct effect on
tipping. Group size and whether liquor was
served were unrelated to tipping, whereas hu-
midity was marginally correlated. Apparently
contrary to Experiment 1, there was a positive
association between the fullness of the moon
and the size of the tip.
Additional partial correlation analyses were
performed to determine the relationship of
each weather variable to tipping, with the
effects of the other weather variables and age
and sex removed. These analyses are pre-
sented in Table S.
Once again, sunshine was significantly cor-
related with tipping. Relative humidity was
also positively correlated with tipping,
whereas lunar phase showed a marginal posi-
tive association. A regression analysis using
sunshine, temperature, relative humidity, and
lunar phase as predictors of tipping produced
significant associations of sunshine and rela-
tive humidity with tipping, F(4, 125) = 4.73,
p < .01, with sunshine accounting for 4% of
the total variance.
Table 5
Partial Correlations of Selected Weather
Variables With Tipping
Item Partial r
Sunshine
Temperature
Relative humidity
Lunar phase"
.23***
.03
.17**
.11*
Note. N = 130. The effects of age and sex have been
partialed out as well as the other weather variables.
a
Large value = full moon.
* p < .10. ** p < .03. *** p < .005.
To test for a curvilinear relation of tem-
perature with tipping, a weighted equation
centered on 19 C (65 F) was constructed.
Curvilinear temperature was positively related
to tipping, r(128) .19, p < .02, as a zero-
order correlation but was insignificant when
the effects of age and sex were removed,
r(128) = .09.
Examination of the relationship of the
weather variables to the self-reported mood of
the waitresses, presented in Table 6, provides
further insight into the nature of the weather
effects. As Table 6 reveals, both sunshine and
temperature were significantly related to a
more positive mood of the waitress. Waitress
mood (obtained prior to the receipt of tips)
was not itself a significant predictor of tip-
ping, r(128) = .004, suggesting that the effect
of weather on tipping may have been medi-
ated by the mental or emotional state of the
customers.
Table 6
Correlations of Weather With Waitress's
Mood
Item r
Sunshine
Temperature
Barometric pressure
Relative humidity
Wind velocity
Lunar phase"
.60*
.75**
.32
-.36
-.20
-.35
Note. Larger number is more positive mood. N = 13.
" Large value = full moon.
*P < .05. **p < .01.
1954
MICHAEL R. CUNNINGHAM
Discussion
The second study effectively controlled for
the effect on helping of comfort factors such
as temperature and wind velocity by investi-
gating the effect of weather on a helping
action that did not require the participants to
remain outdoors for a period of time in order
to be helpful. Nonetheless, this study repli-
cated Experiment 1 by finding that the out-
door sunshine level was significantly related
both to the gratuity left for the waitress in a
restaurant and to the waitress's self-reported
mood.
Of course, the fact that sunshine was asso-
ciated with both customers' helping and wait-
resses' mood does not necessarily mean that
changes in customers' mood produced the
variations in helping. The observed variations
in both helping and mood as a function of
sunshine could have involved separate media-
tional mechanisms. Yet because of the strong
experimental evidence for an effect of mood
on helping (Isen & Levin, 1972; Cunningham,
Steinberg, & Grev, in press) and the lack of a
plausible alternate mediator for the effect of
sunshine on helping, mood seems a prime can-
didate. The present study did not, however,
provide information on how sunshine might
affect mood. Explanations based on symbolic
associations, aesthetics, and biological pro-
cesses all seem reasonable.
Sunshine level could influence mood through
its symbolic connection with pleasant or dis-
appointing events. Thus sunshine could in-
crease mood by stimulating thoughts of swim-
ming, picnics, and other outings, whereas
cloudy days could be associated with the dis-
appointment of canceled plans and the annoy-
ance of rain and snow and could in that way
alter the individual's mood.
Alternatively, sunshine could produce a
more positive mood by illuminating the en-
vironment in a more stimulating and pleasing
manner. Clear sunlight has spectral character-
istics different from the light on cloudy days
and with its stronger intensity may enhance
colors and sharpen detail. The scenery on a
cloudy day may appear more dull and mono-
chromatic, by contrast. Maslow and Mintz
(1956) have demonstrated that the aesthetic
quality of indoor settings affected mood and
person perception, and sunshine might sim-
ilarly influence mood primarily through aes-
thetic responses to the environment.
Sunshine could also influence mood through
its effect on physiological processes. There are
indications both from experimental studies on
light deprivation and clinical studies of blind
and cataract patients that the level of light
detected may affect adrenal corticosteroid
production and other endocrine functions,
hemoglobin formation, thyroid activity, the
detoxification capacity of the liver, and the
overall regulation of circadian and cirannual
biorhythms (Luce, 1970). Solar radiation can
also increase the atmospheric concentration
of negative ions, and increased negative ion
concentration has been linked to increased
oxidation of serotonin and increased relaxa-
tion in humans (Krueger & Reed, 1976;
Randall, 1970). Alternately, since cloud cover
filters out ultraviolet rays, decreased ultra-
violet light may retard physiological processes
such as Vitamin D production (Ott, 1973).
Yet since no direct measures of blood chem-
istry were obtained in the present studies,
such interpretations of the effect of sunlight,
like those based on associations and aesthet-
ics, remain speculative.
The series of studies reported here em-
ployed a quasi-experimental correlation de-
sign, and the lack of total control over the
independent variables produced some am-
biguous results. First, in Experiment 2 older
people and women were more likely to eat in
the restaurant, and thus participate in the
study, on sunnier, cooler, windier, more hu-
mid, higher pressure days. Although it is be-
lieved that statistical control for such self-
selection factors was adequate, complete ran-
dom assignment to conditions would have
been more desirable.
Nowhere are the weaknesses of the correla-
tional approach more apparent than in the
case of lunar phase effects. In the zero-corre-
lation analysis in Experiment 1, a negative
association with helping was found in both
seasons, but this relationship disappeared in
the partial correlation analysis. Experiment 2
found a significant positive relationship with
tipping, although no association was found
WEATHER, MOOD, AND HELPING
1955
with waitresses' mood. Since a recent review
of the lunar phase literature pertaining to
homicide, suicide, and psychiatric admission
frequency (Campbell & Beets, 1978) indi-
cated substantial inconsistency in findings
across studies and argued that published sig-
nificant associations were due to Type I
errors, the present small but significant corre-
lations are regarded as somewhat of a nui-
sance. As with other variables, such as
sunshine, employed in this study, a full ex-
planation of proposed effects will require mea-
surement of physical, physiological, and
psychological processes influenced by a factor
such as the moon. Given the overabundance of
speculation concerning the nature of lunar
influences, no interpretation of the present
findings will be offered.
Two other apparent inconsistencies should
be noted. In Experiment 1 humidity was
negatively associated with helping, whereas
in Experiment 2 the association was positive.
This discrepancy is reasonable, however, if
one assumes that the higher the outdoor
humidity, the more relief the restaurant
patron experienced when coming into a cli-
mate-controlled environment. Appreciation or
a more positive mood following such relief
could have increased tipping.
Another inconsistency concerns the relation-
ship of temperature with the various depen-
dent measures. Temperature showed an in-
verted U-shaped relationship with helping in
Experiment 1 but was positively related to
waitresses' mood in Experiment 2. Yet the
positive relation with waitresses' mood is com-
patible with an overall curvilinear relation-
ship, given the more restricted temperature
range of Experiment 2. Temperature was not,
however, clearly linearly or curvilinearly re-
lated to tipping in Experiment 2. This is not
surprising, however, given the climate-con-
trolled environment of the restaurant. Fur-
ther, although waitresses' mood was recorded
when the waitresses first came in to begin
their shifts, tipping did not occur until the
patrons had been away from the outdoor tem-
perature for some time.
The lack of a substantial relationship of
barometric pressure with helping in either
study was somewhat unexpected in light of
previous research. Yet it is well to bear in
mind Piccardi's (1962) observation that sim-
ply ascending to the top of a skyscraper in-
volves a pressure change equivalent to that
stemming from a tornado. Barometric pres-
sures in Experiment 1 ranged from 29..63 to
30.37 and in Experiment 2 from 29.60 to
30.27, which is an average range, but since
data were not gathered during rainy or stormy
weather, it is possible that some pressure
effects were missed.
Also unexpected was the finding that the
consumption of alcohol was not related to
tipping, nor was the size of the party, con-
trary to the results of previous research (Free-
man, Walker, Borden, & Latane, 1975). But
since the precise amount of alcohol consumed
was not recorded, and since it was frequently
difficult to determine if one person or the
entire group contributed to the tip, few con-
clusions can be drawn.
Although this series of studies has stressed
the role of weather variables in helping, the
conclusion should not be drawn that the
weather is the only or even the major factor
contributing to altruism. The strongest pre-
dictor, sunshine level, accounted for only 13^
of the helping variance when participants
were outdoors and 4% of the variance when
people were indoors, leaving a great deal to be
accounted for by social and individual differ-
ence factors. Yet given its relative neglect in
the literature, future investigations might ex-
amine the relationship between sunshine and
other affect-linked behaviors. Alternative indi-
cators of helpfulness or friendliness, such as
people's willingness to start a conversation
with a stranger or give to charity, might be
examined, as well as negative affect-related
behaviors such as reports of crime, marital
distress, suicide, initial contact with a psychi-
atric clinic, and constricted nonverbal behav-
ior (Cunningham, 1977). Given the reported
friendliness of Californians, it would also be of
interest to examine the friendliness of various
cities around the world as a function of the
amount of sunlight they receive (cf. Feldman,
1968; Robbins, DeWalt, & Pelto, 1972). And
the next time experimental subjects are not
1956
MICHAEL R. CUNNINGHAM
performing as predicted, the laboratory psy-
chologist might look outdoors to see what
kind of a day it is.
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