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Geography and personality: Why do different neighborhoods have different vibes?

2015; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 112; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.1423744112

1091-6490

Shigehiro Oishi,

Personality Traits and Psychology

Many travelers today, like Marco Polo in the 13th century, marvel at the different vibes possessed by different nations. Portugal has a different feel than France, which has a different feel than the United Kingdom, which is also very different from China. These differences arise in part because of different languages, customs, climates, and geographies. What about different neighborhoods in the same city? Do different neighborhoods have different vibes, even if they speak the same language, have the same holidays, the same favorite sports teams, and the same high and low temperatures? Most people living in a large city would say, “Yes, of course!” However, do they know why different neighborhoods feel so different, even within the same city? My guess is that most people can point to demographic or socioeconomic status differences across neighborhoods (e.g., “that is a Mexican neighborhood,” or “a lot of rich folks live there”), but would have no idea where agreeable people live or where introverts live. Jokela et al.’s (1) paper presents the possibility that different neighborhoods feel different not just because of their residents’ socioeconomic status, demographics, or built-environments, but also because of the actual personality of their residents. Jokela et al. collected self-reports on Big Five personality (extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and life satisfaction from over 56,000 Londoners (1). Using respondents’ residences, Jokela et al. mapped the personalities of 216 London neighborhoods. Not surprisingly, people high in openness to experiences tend to live in the city center (e.g., Camden Town, King’s Cross), whereas people low in openness live in the outer regions of London (Fig. 1). Similarly, agreeable and conscientious people overwhelmingly live outside of the city center. Residents of Hammersmith and Battersea are very extraverted, whereas residents of East Ham and Hanwell are very introverted. Interestingly, the …