Young Flames: The Effects of Childhood Exposure to Fire on Adult Attitudes

Successful use of fire has been essential to survival throughout the majority of human history—an environmental pressure that may have led to cognitive mechanisms dedicated to attaining mastery of fire manipulation and control. Concordant with this hypothesis is the fact that, despite its inherent danger, the frivolous use of fire remains firmly embedded within modern societies; conversely, in societies where fire is used for utilitarian purposes, ethnographic reports suggest that fire is considered mundane. The exposure hypothesis holds that the attraction to fire in modern societies is due to the lack of adequate exposure to fire throughout childhood. Two studies—comprising North American samples that have had significantly different levels of exposure to fire—investigated the relationship between frequency of exposure to fire throughout childhood and psychological associations with fire. Psychological associations with fire were overwhelmingly positive in both samples. Study 1 found no significant association between childhood fire exposure and positive affective associations with fire. Using a more sophisticated measurement tool and in a more rural sample, Study 2 found that, contrary to the exposure hypothesis, more frequent exposure to fire in childhood was associated with more positive psychological associations with fire. Potential reasons for the discrepancies between these results and earlier ethnographic reports, and their potential implications, are discussed.