Let's Hear it for UTAH!

The Derrill Watson, Newly Self-Annointed Defender of UT Series kicks off this week with an interesting paper by Peter J. Rentfrow, Samuel D. Gosling, and Jeff Potter. They studied the geographical distribution of 5 major personality characteristics and ranked their relative prevalence in the United States. States were then grouped into roughly 10-state blocks [sometimes a large tie for 1st is found] representing most to least of that personality type. I'll only report the four states my family really cares about right now and the top 10, but if you want the others, you can find them here. (Hat tip to Marginal Revolution.)

Extravertedness (sociability, hanging out with others)
Top 10: Utah (plus the northern plains states, Fla, Penn, Maine, and TX)
2nd 10:
3rd 10:
4th 10: CA, NY, Conn
5th 10:

Agreeableness (warmth, compassion, cooperativeness)
Top 10: Utah (plus the eastern plains states, the South minus 'Bammer, and Oregon)
2nd 10
3rd 10: CA
4th 10:
5th 10: NY, Conn

Conscientiousness (Responsibility and duty)
Top 10: Utah (plus AZ, NM, mid-plains, Fla, GA, and NC)
2nd 10: CA (Land of the flakes? whoda thunkit?)
3rd 10:
4th 10:
5th 10: NY, Conn

Neuroticism (stress, antisocial, poor coping)
Top 10: NY, Conn and most of the northeast
2nd 10:
3rd 10:
4th 10: CA
5th 10: Utah (much of the west scores very low stress)

Openness (curiosity, intellect, creativity)
Top 10: you guessed it ... no, you didn't. CA, NY, Conn and a bunch of seaside states
2nd 10: Utah
3rd 10:
4th 10:
5th 10:

So what good can we say for NY and Conn? Well, they're curious and intelligent, but that comes at the price of neuroticism, introversion, disagreeableness, and a noted lack of responsibility. Good places to get an advanced degree, perhaps. We Californians are more responsible than our stereotype, curious, and we're chilled out enough to avoid neuroticism, but we're much less open to strangers we like to pretend to be and are only middlin agreeable. Utah and Florida are about the best places to live if you care about the quality your neighbors. On the other hand, if you like your privacy, maybe you'd be happier out here in the northeast. ;)

Please note UT- bashers, UT is not neurotically stressed out and is much more intellectually curious than you give it credit. In fairness to my own neighbors, I would add that Ithaca is more extraverted and friendly than this report would indicate.