Are Texans temperamental and uninhibited?
That’s what a multinational team of researchers has discovered.
The team collected personality test data from more than 1 million people. Researchers crunched all of that data and produced state-by-state ratings of personality and temperament. They mapped the American mood.
What did they discover? America sure is moody.
There are three distinct personality regions in the country: friendly and conventional; relaxed and creative; and temperamental and uninhibited.
Texas is classified as temperamental and uninhibited.
Texans are more extroverted than the national average. We rank No. 16 out of 50 states.
Texans are more conscientious than the national average. We are also more open and agreeable.
But we are less neurotic than the average – Texas ranked 34 out of 50 states in that category.
The study has been published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
So do you belong in Texas? Take this quiz, courtesy of Time magazine, which also produced this cool map that highlights the country’s various moods. (Next to that map is a blue button that says “Take the Test.”)
Researchers spent 13 years conducting their study, which includes responses from nearly 1.6 million Americans from the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C. Alaska and Hawaii weren’t included because not enough people responded to the questionnaires, Time reported.
The survey measured personalities using five measures: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism – or OCEAN.
So which states are most neurotic? They’re all in the northeast. (Naturally.) Well, except for West Virginia.
The states that are considered the most open? Those on the west coast.
Some of the most conscientious states are in the southeast.
Texas’ neighbors have different personalities.
New Mexico is considered “relaxed and creative.” They are far more open than Texans, and a little more conscientious, but much less agreeable.
Folks in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas are all far less extroverted than Texans, but far more neurotic.
The most extroverted folks live in Wisconsin (is it all that beer?) while the least extroverted Americans are in Vermont.
Utah is the most agreeable place. Where’s the least agreeable place?
Washington, D.C.
Of course.
