“If Winter Comes, Can Spring Be Far Behind?”: Climate and Preference for Redemptive Narratives

Abstract

In three studies, we explore the question: Is the climate one lives in associated with a preference for redemptive narratives? Study 1 explores articles (N = 200) from lifestyle magazines from 10 American cities. We find that articles from cities with more difficult climates with larger temperature swings include more redemptive themes. In Study 2, we code a bank of oral histories (N = 154) from individuals living in 106 American cities. Likewise, we find evidence that people living in more difficult climates with wide temperature swings give more redemptive accounts of life events. Finally, in Study 3, we find evidence among a sample of individuals (N = 157) living in a single American city with a difficult climate that people include more redemptive themes in their oral histories when interviewed in winter as compared with the other three seasons. These studies suggest that narratives that shape our lives may be influenced by the natural world.