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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

For what it's worth....

If you are feeling mired down in the political and financial news of the day, I humbly offer some lighter reading.

Turns out a University of Cambridge researcher has been studying the personality traits of Americans and he's created the first ever "personality map." The map, he says, helps explain why certain people tend to live and flourish in certain parts of the country.

"What is particularly impressive is that the results show the effects of personality on people's social habits, values and lifestyles are so pronounced that they have an impact on much bigger social forces," said lead researcher Dr. Jason Rentfrow, who was born in America.

Of local interest, Wyoming residents were rated third lowest in the country on a trait called aggreeableness, which encompasses compassion, friendliness and cooperativeness. We also were dead last in conscientiousness, a trait that includes responsibility and self-discipline. And we were in the bottom five in terms of openness, which is said to include curiosity and creativity.

On the up side, we weren't rated as neurotic.

2 Comments:

Blogger David Carkhuff said...

So we're irascible, irresponsible and reckless? That sounds like most characters in every western I've ever seen.

October 9, 2008 at 10:40 AM  
Blogger Jen said...

And don't forget unimaginative, closed minded and intolerant. I think this may speak to Traci Darnell's letter to the editor this week (http://buffalobulletin.com/articles/2008/10/08/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/doc48ecd6e9517a0108350383.txt). In a region that was settled by adventurers with a pioneering spirit, we have fast become, I think, a people who demands conformity and openly mocks anyone who isn't like minded.

I have lived in every region of the country, including 2 other states in the Rocky Mountain West, and never have I felt so much pressure to kowtow.

October 9, 2008 at 2:03 PM  

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