Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The States of mind

North Dakota is the most extroverted and agreeable state in the country? West Virginia is the most neurotic? The most conscientious is New Mexico?

These were all results derived from a study of more than 600,000 questionnaires and published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science.

Overall, the study confirmed a lot of the stereotypes: northeastern and western states like tend to be more open; mostly racially homogeneous states like North Dakota, Minnesota and Utah were more agreeable (presumably because there was little to disagree about); and Alaska, home of the nation's most popular governor, ranks near the bottom of most of these lists.

For more info, check out this interactive map.

As a note, my beloved home state of Texas ranked from 16 to 28 in the five categories (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness). Not surprising, for such a sensible, moderate bunch.

No comments: