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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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    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:

    1. 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.
    2. Krzysztof Buczkowski & Małgorzata A. Basinska & Anna Ratajska & Katarzyna Lewandowska & Dorota Luszkiewicz & Alicja Sieminska, 2017. "Smoking Status and the Five-Factor Model of Personality: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study Conducted in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-13, January.
    3. 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.
    4. Obschonka, Martin & Lee, Neil & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Eichstaedt, johannes Christopher & Ebert, Tobias, 2018. "Big Data, artificial intelligence and the geography of entrepreneurship in the United States," OSF Preprints c62tn, Center for Open Science.
    5. 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.
    6. Reher, Leonie & Runst, Petrik & Thomä, Jörg, 2024. "Personality and regional innovativeness: An empirical analysis of German patent data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).
    7. 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.
    8. Obschonka, Martin & Stuetzer, Michael & Rentfrow, Peter J. & Lee, Neil & Gosling, Samuel D. & Schmitt-Rodermund, Eva, 2018. "Fear, populism, and the geopolitical landscape: The “sleeper effect” of neurotic personality traits on regional voting behavior in the 2016 Brexit and Trump votes," MPRA Paper 88404, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Li, Yuan (William) & Liu, Yi & Wan, Lisa C. & Lin, Yingxin, 2024. "Human psychology as a driver of tourism development: The effect of regional personality traits," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    10. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2019. "The behavioural foundations of urban and regional development: culture, psychology and agency," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 121-146.
    11. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson & Martin Obschonka, 2018. "Human behaviour and economic growth: A psychocultural perspective on local and regional development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(6), pages 1269-1289, September.
    12. Phil Lignier & Diane Jarvis & Daniel Grainger & Taha Chaiechi, 2024. "Spatial Heterogeneity and Subjective Wellbeing: Exploring the Role of Social Capital in Metropolitan Areas Using Multilevel Modelling," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 1-23, June.
    13. Zhang Jingchao & Koji Kotani & Tatsuyoshi Saijo, 2021. "Are societies becoming proself? A topographical difference under fast urbanization in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(9), pages 12976-12993, September.
    14. Phil Lignier & Diane Jarvis & Daniel Grainger & Taha Chaiechi, 2024. "How Selective Mobility, Social and Ecological Influence may Impact Geographic Variations in Life Satisfaction Scores: An Australian Longitudinal Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 803-826, July.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. 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).
    18. 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.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.
    21. 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).
    22. repec:osf:osfxxx:c62tn_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. 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.
    24. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2023. "Uneven development, competitiveness and behavioural economic geography: Addressing ‘levelling up’ policies from a human perspective," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(9), pages 2274-2294, December.

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