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Regional Personality Differences in Great Britain

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  • Peter J Rentfrow
  • Markus Jokela
  • Michael E Lamb

Abstract

Recent investigations indicate that personality traits are unevenly distributed geographically, with some traits being more prevalent in certain places than in others. The geographical distributions of personality traits are associated with a range of important political, economic, social, and health outcomes. The majority of research on this subject has focused on the geographical distributions and macro-level correlates of personality across nations or regions of the United States. The aim of the present investigation was to replicate and extend that past work by examining regional personality differences in Great Britain. Using a sample of nearly 400,000 British residents, we mapped the geographical distributions of the Big Five Personality traits across 380 Local Authority Districts and examined the associations with important political, economic, social, and health outcomes. The results revealed distinct geographical clusters, with neighboring regions displaying similar personality characteristics, and robust associations with the macro-level outcome variables. Overall, the patterns of results were similar to findings from past research.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter J Rentfrow & Markus Jokela & Michael E Lamb, 2015. "Regional Personality Differences in Great Britain," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0122245
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122245
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. de Vries, Robert & Gosling, Samuel & Potter, Jeff, 2011. "Income inequality and personality: Are less equal U.S. states less agreeable?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(12), pages 1978-1985, June.
    2. Martin Obschonka & Eva Schmitt-Rodermund & Rainer K. Silbereisen & Samuel D. Gosling & Jeff Potter, 2013. "The Regional Distribution and Correlates of an Entrepreneurship-Prone Personality Profile in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom: A Socioecological Perspective," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 550, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
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    Cited by:

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    7. Daly, Michael & Obschonka, Martin & Stuetzer, Michael & Sutin, Angelina & Shaw-Taylor, Leigh & Satchell, Max & Robinson, Eric, 2019. "Neuroticism Mediates the Relationship Between Industrial History and Modern-Day Regional Obesity Levels," MPRA Paper 106505, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Jul 2020.
    8. Agnieszka Szczepańska & Rafał Kaźmierczak, 2022. "The Theoretical Model of Decision-Making Behaviour Geospatial Analysis Using Data Obtained from the Games of Chess," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-25, September.
    9. Tobias Ebert & Jochen E. Gebauer & Thomas Brenner & Wiebke Bleidorn & Samuel D. Gosling & Jeff Potter & P. Jason Rentfrow, 2019. "Are Regional Differences in Personality and their Correlates robust? Applying Spatial Analysis Techniques to Examine Regional Variation in Personality across the U.S. and Germany," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2019-05, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    10. Marcus T. Wolfe & Pankaj C. Patel, 2017. "Instant gratification: temporal discounting and self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 861-882, April.
    11. Obschonka, Martin & Stuetzer, Michael & Peter, Rentfrow & Jeff, Potter & Samuel, Gosling, 2017. "Did Strategic Bombing in the Second World War lead to ‘German Angst’? A large-scale empirical test across 89 German cities," MPRA Paper 83680, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Liang Xu & Yanyang Luo & Xin Wen & Zaoyi Sun & Chiju Chao & Tianshu Xia & Liuchang Xu, 2022. "Human Personality Is Associated with Geographical Environment in Mainland China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-13, August.
    13. Morrissey, Karyn & Kinderman, Peter & Pontin, Eleanor & Tai, Sara & Schwannauer, Mathias, 2016. "Web based health surveys: Using a Two Step Heckman model to examine their potential for population health analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 45-53.
    14. Martin Obschonka & Neil Lee & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Johannes C. Eichstaedt & Tobias Ebert, 2020. "Big data methods, social media, and the psychology of entrepreneurial regions: capturing cross-county personality traits and their impact on entrepreneurship in the USA," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 567-588, October.
    15. Reher, Leonie & Runst, Petrik & Thomä, Jörg, 2022. "Personality and regional innovativeness: An empirical analysis of German patent data," ifh Working Papers 39/2022, Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand und Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen (ifh).
    16. Obschonka, Martin & Stuetzer, Michael & Rentfrow, Peter J. & Shaw-Taylor, Leigh & Satchell, Max & Silbereisen, Rainer K. & Potter, Jeff & Gosling, Samuel D., 2018. "In the shadow of coal: How large-scale industries contributed to present-day regional differences in personality and well-being," MPRA Paper 89645, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Martin Obschonka & Michael Stuetzer & Alexander Newman & Cristina B. Gibson & Samuel D. Gosling & Peter J. Rentfrow & Jeff Potter, 2023. "Corruption revisited: the influence of national personality, culture, and wealth," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(8), pages 1577-1587, October.
    18. Tubadji, Annie & Nijkamp, Peter & Santarelli, Enrico, 2017. "Shacklean Uncertainty and Cultural Embeddedness as Innovation Constraints in the UK," GLO Discussion Paper Series 111, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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