Research at the intersection of meteorology and societal impacts is increasingly important. Still, it is relatively rare for this work to take on a psychological frame. Here, we blend media and positive psychology topics with the judgement and decision-making domain for a multifaceted investigation into psychological and behavioral responses to severe and dangerous weather conditions. Using a simple pre/post, quasi-experimental design, we tested the following predictions: 1) Exposure to dangerous weather conditions, via video-based multimedia, would increase participants’ negative affect and weather-related fear; 2) video-mediated storm exposure would increase participants’ intent to engage in future protective actions; and 3) a brief mindfulness exercise would significantly lower the weather-induced negative affectivity. Resource unavailability meant we were unable to conduct a full experiment including a control group. However, all three hypotheses were confirmed and we believe our findings warrant further replication. Results indicated a small but significant (apparent) effect of mindfulness in reducing negative affect when controlling for lived storm experience and positive affect brought on by storm-associated awe and excitement (η_G^2 = 0.02), and small to moderate effects of multimedia exposure on increases in protective action intentions (d = –0.71), and weather fear (d = –0.24). Results are discussed in light of meteorological communication principles, the existing literatures on mindfulness and protective action responses to severe weather, and the potential for mindfulness interventions in psychological responses to severe and dangerous weather.

People often use the term “lovebirds” to describe the ongoing loving behaviors between two romantic partners. What aspects of love distinguish “lovebird” relationships from other adult committed primary relationships? The present study aimed to answer this question through the development and validation of a novel self-report measure of relationship quality called the Lovebird Scale. Existing measures tend to use the presence or absence of relationship dysfunction as a barometer for relationship quality, but this may not adequately capture exceptionally high-quality, flourishing relationships. Romantic relationships have critical implications for health and well-being outcomes, emphasizing the need to understand the specific loving aspects of exceptionally high-quality relationships. A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted across three studies using data collected from 1,007 English-speaking, U.S. adults who reported being in a romantic relationship lasting at least 6 months (M = 11.2 years). Results provide initial evidence for the psychometric properties of the Lovebird Scale. Critically, the Lovebird Scale outperformed well-established relationship quality measures when predicting affective state, highlighting the affective, behavioral, and cognitive nature of the scale. The scale advances the science of love by operationalizing the construct of “optimal” romantic relationships, going beyond broad ratings of relationship satisfaction to distinguish between “lovebirds” and other types of adult committed relationships.

Here, we describe archival data analysis from a recent paper (Bolton et al., 2022) on the development of a self-report measure of epistemic, or information-based, weather curiosity (the Epistemic Weather Curiosity Questionnaire, or EWCQ). We find that the 4-item, “global” version of the scale presented here (the EWCQ-B) functions essentially as well as the 11-item version. In a more economical package which could serve to reduce participant burden in large studies and which functions without the need to consider lived experiences of weather events and learning contexts, the EWCQ-B has good convergent validity with measures of weather salience, which is the significance of, and attention paid to, weather; systemizing, an analytical cognitive style; weather-warning awareness; storm-preparation self-efficacy beliefs; interest- and deprivation-based curiosity; trait openness; and curiosity to learn science. Implications for the measurement of epistemic weather curiosity are discussed.

The present study examined individual differences in accurately detecting emotion and intention in email messages. As people rely increasingly on indirect communication through electronics, errors in interpreting meaning in messages become more consequential. Participants (N=211) were invited to complete an online survey. This study used a 2x2 (tone of email: Polite/curt; gender of writer: Male/female) design to test a number of participant responses to an email exchange. Participants read one of two brief email interchanges between a professor and student, then responded to questions about dispositional or situational influences of intent. Two-way MANOVA revealed a predicted main effect of email tone; curt emails were viewed more negatively than polite ones, but no gender main effect or interaction emerged. Emotional intelligence, but not participants’ mood when responding to the email scenario, or other measured personality characteristics, correlated with accurate interpretation of email emotion and attribution of intent. Implications are discussed.

Climate change, “mired in controversy” for decades, has become a topic of enormous import to psychological science. This study was undertaken in mid-late 2020 to examine relationships between generalized, negative cognitions and affective states one might experience in relation to interacting with the idea of climate change, and individual differences in experiences and personality. Two-hundred fifteen individuals completed an online survey in which they responded to several individual difference and climate change measures. Results further some of the known linkages between political affiliation and pro-environmental beliefs, deepen understanding of the construct of weather salience, refine an existing measure of the New Ecological Paradigm, and provide a promising measure of climate anxiety and dread.