Your Surrounding Landscape Can Influence Your Personality

We are always somewhere and that somewhere can influence who we are.

This principle is the cornerstone of geographical psychology, a sub-discipline of psychology that looks at the ways in which humans shape their environments—and are in turn shaped by the world they live in.

In 2008, geographical psychologists started to map out geographical differences in personality traits. Over 600,000 respondents across all U.S. states completed the Big Five Inventory, a widely validated tool to measure personality traits. Researchers found that states differ in how open, conscientious, extraverted, agreeable, and emotionally stable they were. North Dakota and Wisconsin scored particularly high on extraversion, the personality trait that captures the tendency to be sociable, energetic, and outgoing. North Dakota also ranked first in agreeableness—the tendency to be trusting, altruistic, and sympathetic—followed by Minnesota and Mississippi. Meanwhile, West Virginia and Rhode Island scored highest on neuroticism, which captures the tendency to be tense and emotionally unstable.

Many mechanisms can contribute to these regional variations. For example, the way people choose to selectively migrate to certain regions was found to result in the clustering of similar individuals. A region’s social norms can also play a significant role in creating clusters of regional personality as social rules tend to rub off on new and existing residents. However, our research group was interested in a very different factor: the physical environment.

The environment around us can substantially impact our behavior in everyday life. For instance, most people who live in Cambridge, U.K., use bicycles as their primary mode of transportation. Anyone driving a car in the city centre would have to navigate narrow streets and a continuous influx of pedestrians. Cycling provides the most convenient alternative given the city’s density and infrastructure. This simple transportation choice is a behavior that, over time, compounds.

Like everyone else in Cambridge, I too cycle everywhere. Compared to driving, cycling has allowed me to be more aware of my surroundings and more flexible to stop and explore any place with a suitable bike park. My eagerness to explore new places has expanded because of this repeated behavior.

As we interact with the environment around us, either by expanding cities or by farming more land, we change the environment. In turn, the same environment exerts its influence on us.

The places we live can shape the types of behaviors we engage with, which can lead to changes in personality traits over time. In our recent study, we tested whether that is indeed the case. We gathered data from more 2.5 million survey respondents from 29,000 U.S. ZIP codes. Participants were recruited via a freely accessible, non-commercial platform which offered feedback on a range of measures, including the Big Five Inventory (you can take the test here). Participation was voluntary and there was no monetary compensation, but respondents received customized feedback about their personalities upon completing the questionnaire. To measure the landscape composition of each U.S. ZIP code we used a satellite dataset. The satellite data recorded the landscape make-up of a region, indicating for each ZIP code the proportion of 11 landscape categories, such as urban landscapes, farmland, wetlands, or water bodies.

Using multilevel modelling and machine learning algorithms, we found several associations between personality traits and the proportion of landscapes at ZIP code level. First, we found a positive association between the proportion of ‘blue landscapes’ (featuring rivers, lakes, or oceans), and residents’ levels of openness to experience—a personality trait that captures the tendency to be curious, imaginative, and unconventional. This is presumably because blue landscapes invite exploration, a behavior that sits at the core of openness.

We also found a positive association between urban landscapes and openness to experience. Residents of regions with more urban, artificial landscapes had higher levels of openness. Those living in densely populated, urban areas have ample opportunities to engage in new experiences and, as a by-product of that, interact with diverse people. From attending concerts and sports events to taking all sorts of dance and art classes, being exposed to diverse activities expands your horizons, increases your open-mindedness, and enhances your creativity—all characteristics linked to openness to experience.

Conscientiousness—the tendency to be self-disciplined, organized, and dependable—was higher in regions with more farming areas. This is not surprising, since farming requires hard work, careful planning, and sticking to a strict schedule—all attributes of a highly conscientious individual.

The geographical features of the places we live in seem to be associated with our personality traits. The process behind this association is very likely more complex. As we interact with the environment around us, either by expanding cities or by farming more land, we change the environment. In turn, the same environment exerts its influence on us. For instance, increasing a city’s walkability by improving access to restaurants or parks could lead to an increase in residents’ extraversion.

Future actions and public policies should be mindful that changing landscapes has a direct impact on residents’ psychological characteristics. As the environment changes, we will very likely change our behaviors and, in time, our personality.