The personality of U.S. states: Stability from 1999 to 2015

Lorien G. Elleman*, David M. Condon, Sarah E. Russin, William Revelle

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Researchers have shown an interest in the aggregated Big Five personality of U.S. states, but typically they have relied on scores from a single sample (Rentfrow, Gosling, & Potter, 2008). We examine the replicability of U.S. state personality scores from two studies (Rentfrow et al., 2008; Rentfrow, Gosling, Jokela, & Stillwell, 2013) across a total of seven samples, two of them new. Same-trait correlations across samples are, on average, positive for all five traits, indicating score agreement. Additionally, three traits (Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness) show strongly consistent patterns of correlations with sociodemographic variables across samples. We find rank order stability in state personality scores for a 16-year period (1999–2015).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)64-72
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Research in Personality
Volume72
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2018

Keywords

  • Aggregate personality
  • Big Five
  • Online personality assessment
  • Personality of U.S. states
  • Regional differences
  • Replication
  • Scale generalizability
  • Sociodemographic

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Psychology(all)

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