May 06, 2008
psychogeographies
WE ARE ALL familiar with the rough geography of the United States - the slash of the Rocky Mountains between two great coastlines, the bulge of Maine, the Florida peninsula, the Great Lakes, set in the heartland.But what about the country's psychogeography? You know, the great river of extroversion that flows roughly southeast from greater Chicago to southern Florida? Or the vast lakes of agreeableness and conscientiousness that pool together in the Sun Belt, especially around Atlanta? Or the jagged peaks of neuroticism in Boston and New York?
It's time to learn.
Psychologists have shown that human personalities can be classified along five key dimensions: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience. And each of these dimensions has been found to affect key life outcomes from life expectancy and divorce to political ideology, job choices and performance, and innovation and creativity.
more from Boston Globe Ideas here.
Posted by Morgan Meis at 08:46 AM | Permalink
Comments
Interesting article, but there's a lot of loose correlatin' in there.
I guess that means we in the Rockies are all skeptics.
Posted by: beajerry | May 6, 2008 11:05:45 AM
Imagine my dismay to find myself at the very epicenter of neuroticism. However, as Long Islanders know, the neurotics are all clustered in Manhattan.
Posted by: Jared | May 6, 2008 12:12:50 PM
People, people - Look at the data!
What characteristics are there of a human population that have a large density offshore in the ocean and on the Great Lakes? No one lives out there.
What characteristics show a smooth symmetrical decrease from a few hot spots without any influence of population density, urbanization, transportation routes, wealth, terrain, etc?
The maps cannot possibly reflect real data in any meaningful way.
Posted by: Ralph Brown | May 8, 2008 2:09:19 PM
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