Physical topography is associated with human personality

Regional differences in personality are associated with a range of consequential outcomes. But which factors are responsible for these differences? Frontier settlement theory suggests that physical topography is a crucial factor shaping the psychological landscape of regions. Hence, we investigated whether topography is associated with regional variation in personality across the United States (n = 3,387,014). Consistent with frontier settlement theory, results from multilevel modelling revealed that mountainous areas were lower on agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism and conscientiousness but higher on openness to experience. Conditional random forest algorithms confirmed mountainousness as a meaningful predictor of personality when tested against a conservative set of controls. East-west comparisons highlighted potential differences between ecological (driven by physical features) and sociocultural (driven by social norms) effects of mountainous terrain.

Where You Are Is Who You Are? The Geographical Account of Psychological Phenomena

Geographical psychology aims to study the spatial distribution of psychological phenomenon at different levels of geographical analysis and their relations to macro-level important societal outcomes. The geographical perspective provides a new way of understanding interactions between humankind psychological processes and distal macro-environments. Studies have identified the spatial organizations of a wide range of psychological constructs, including (but not limited among) personality, individualism/collectivism, cultural tightness-looseness, and well-being; these variations have been plotted over a range of geographical units (e.g., neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries) and have been linked to a broad array of political, economic, social, public health, and other social consequences. Future research should employ multi-level analysis, taking advantage of more deliberated causality test methods and big data techniques, to further examine the emerging and evolving mechanisms of geographical differences in psychological phenomena.

Geographical psychology

Geographical psychology is an area of research aimed at mapping the spatial organization of psychological phenomena, identifying the mechanisms responsible for their organization, and understanding how individual characteristics, social entities, and physical features of the environment contribute to their organization. Investigations of geographical variation in personality have revealed geographical differences in personality between and within nations. Three mechanisms that contribute to geographical variation are selective migration, social influence, and ecological influence. Results from studies in North America and Europe indicate that regional differences in personality are linked to political, economic, and health indicators. More work is necessary to understand the causal nature of the links between personality and macro-level outcomes, as well as the scale and impact of person-environment associations over time.

Von unterkühlten Norddeutschen, gemütlichen Süddeutschen und aufgeschlossenen Großstädtern: Regionale Persönlichkeitsunterschiede in Deutschland

Zusammenfassung. Die geographische Psychologie befasst sich unter anderem mit Persönlichkeitsunterschieden von Regionen und Regionstypen, in denen Personen leben und handeln. Mittels solcher Forschung können regionale „Mentalitäten“ untersucht werden aus denen sich Forschungsfragen zu Entwicklungspfaden von Regionen und deren Populationen ableiten lassen. Während existierende psychologische Regionalforschung „psychologische Landkarten“ vor allem in den USA und Großbritannien erforschte, liefert die vorliegende Analyse eine Regionaluntersuchung für Deutschland auf kleinteiligem Raumniveau (97 deutsche Raumordnungsregionen). Basierend auf dem Big Five Modell der Persönlichkeit werden deutsche Daten der „The Big Five Project“-Studie ( N = 73756) präsentiert. Es werden regionale Persönlichkeitsunterschiedliche zwischen städtischen und ländlichen Regionen, Ost- und Westdeutschland, und Nord- und Süddeutschland getestet. Es finden sich insbesondere Hinweise für a) die empirische Validität einiger Stereotype (wie das der unterkühlten, rauen Norddeutschen, der gemütlichen Süddeutschen und der aufgeschlossenen Großstädter), b) systematische Migrationsmuster, und c) eine Köln-München Linie in der regionalen Verteilung von Neurotizismus. Die Effektstärken in den Regionalunterschieden sind in der Regel zwar gering, aber dennoch mit wichtigen Implikationen für zukünftige Forschung und Anwendungsgebiete.

Fear, Populism, and the Geopolitical Landscape

Two recent electoral results—Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president and the UK’s Brexit vote—have reignited debate on the psychological factors underlying voting behavior. Both campaigns promoted themes of fear, lost pride, and loss aversion, which are relevant to the personality dimension of neuroticism, a construct previously not associated with voting behavior. To that end, we investigate whether regional prevalence of neurotic personality traits (neuroticism, anxiety, and depression) predicted voting behavior in the United States ( N = 3,167,041) and the United Kingdom ( N = 417,217), comparing these effects with previous models, which have emphasized the roles of openness and conscientiousness. Neurotic traits positively predicted share of Brexit and Trump votes, and Trump gains from Romney. Many of these effects persisted in additional robustness tests controlling for regional industrial heritage, political attitude, and socioeconomic features, particularly in the United States. The “sleeper effect” of neurotic traits may profoundly impact the geopolitical landscape.