Regional Cultures and the Psychological Geography of Switzerland: Person–Environment–Fit in Personality Predicts Subjective Wellbeing

Abstract

The present study extended traditional nation-based research on person–culture–fit to the regional level. First, we examined the geographical distribution of Big Five personality traits in Switzerland. Across the 26 Swiss cantons, unique patterns were observed for all traits. For Extraversion and Neuroticism clear language divides emerged between the French- and Italian-speaking South-West vs. the German-speaking North-East. Second, multilevel modeling demonstrated that person–environment–fit in Big Five, composed of elevation (i.e., mean differences between individual profile and cantonal profile), scatter (differences in mean variances) and shape (Pearson correlations between individual and cantonal profiles across all traits; Furr, 2008, 2010), predicted the development of subjective wellbeing (i.e., life satisfaction, satisfaction with personal relationships, positive affect, negative affect) over a period of 4 years. Unexpectedly, while the effects of shape were in line with the person–environment–fit hypothesis (better fit predicted higher subjective wellbeing), the effects of scatter showed the opposite pattern, while null findings were observed for elevation. Across a series of robustness checks, the patterns for shape and elevation were consistently replicated. While that was mostly the case for scatter as well, the effects of scatter appeared to be somewhat less robust and more sensitive to the specific way fit was modeled when predicting certain outcomes (negative affect, positive affect). Distinguishing between supplementary and complementary fit may help to reconcile these findings and future research should explore whether and if so under which conditions these concepts may be applicable to the respective facets of person–culture–fit.

In a Lonely Place: Investigating Regional Differences in Loneliness

“…However, complex psychological phenomena-such as loneliness-are unlikely to be fully explained by a few strong (individual-level) predictors (Matz, Gladstone, & Stillwell, 2017). Recent studies have shown that regional characteristics play a distinct role for individual-level psychological functioning (e.g., Jokela, Bleidorn, Lamb, Gosling, & Rentfrow, 2015;Götz, Ebert, & Rentfrow, 2018). We therefore suggest broadening the perspective on loneliness.…”

Spending reflects not only who we are but also who we are around: The joint effects of individual and geographic personality on consumption.

“…show that regional personality does not only bear on an individual's psychological adjustment and physical health (Bleidorn et al, 2016;Ebert, Gebauer, Talman, & Rentfrow, 2020;Götz et al, 2018) but also on an individual's behavior. On a more general theoretical level, we further argue that our results offer good reason to reassess the role of personality in widely used interactionist accounts of behavior.…”

Predictors of creativity in young people: Using frequentist and Bayesian approaches in estimating the importance of individual and contextual factors.

“…The wording of the other item for openness was 'has an active imagination'. Cronbach's alpha for openness was .61, which is acceptable for a two-item scale (Brailovskaia & Margraf, 2018;Götz, Ebert, & Rentfrow, 2018;Whaite, Shensa, Sidani, Colditz, & Primack, 2018). In taking a 2-item scale, we assess only the aesthetic and imaginative aspects of openness to experience.…”