Geographical Psychology: Causes & Consequences of Spatial Variation in Psychological Phenomena
- Date
- Tuesday 8 February 2022, 14:00-15:00
- Location
- Online - book below
- Speaker
- Prof. Jason Rentfrow, University of Cambridge
Abstract
There is geographical variation in the ways in which people think, feel, and behave. How are we to understand the causes and consequences of such variation? Geographical psychology is an emerging subarea of research concerned with the spatial organization of psychological phenomena and how individual characteristics, social entities, and physical features of the environment contribute to their organization. In this presentation, I will discuss research conducted at multiple levels of analysis which shows that social influence, ecological influence, and selective migration are key mechanisms that contribute to the spatial clustering of psychological characteristics. Investigations in multiple countries show that the psychological characteristics common in regions are linked to important political, economic, and health indicators. Furthermore, results from large multi-level studies show that the psychological characteristics of individuals interact with features of the local environment to impact psychological development, well-being, economic prosperity, and political outcomes.
The Speaker
Prof Jason Rentfrow is a professor of personality and individual differences in the Psychology Department at Cambridge University, where he directs the Social Dynamics Research Centre. He is an elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Alan Turing Institute. His research concerns person-environment interactions and focuses on the ways in which personality is expressed in everything from people's preferences for music to the places in which they live. His work on these topics has appeared in several of the most prestigious journals in psychology-including American Psychologist, Journal of Personality, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Perspectives on Psychological Science, and Psychological Science.