Personality differences across regions of the United States.

Abstract

Summary This study was initially set up to ascertain what personality differences exist across geographic regions of the United States. Three main components, replicated across males and females, appear to be of greatest consequence in accounting for differences that exist. At the risk of oversimplifying, they might be briefly identified as creative productivity, tough-minded independence, and interpersonal isolation. The first distinguished Northeast, West Coast, and Midwest regions on the one hand from Southeast, Southwest, and Western Mountain regions on the other. The second distinguished Midwest from the West Coast and Southwest regions. The third appears most useful in describing differences between Western Mountain and Midwest regions. While many of these findings are generally congruent with commonly prevailing attitudes, they suggest that there is no single trait which appears to be distinctive of a particular region of the country. Instead, a rather complex pattern of differences emerges which makes traditional stereotypic conceptions inadequate and provides substantially richer ground for generating hypotheses as to the origin of these differences. Although this research was not designed to evaluate differentially the two etiological hypotheses outlined in Section A of this paper, it is interesting to note that the operation of at least two functions can be closely identified with regional demographic characteristics, as would be required by the second hypothesis. Thus, the first function can be thought to identify a psychological dimension which is related to degree of industrialization. The third function might define a psychological dimension which is related to population density. Whatever their origin, however, it is clear that practically significant personality differences do exist across the country in a measurable and quantifiable way.