How are regional personalities developed?

Do you take for granted certain regional personalities or do you want to know the backstory? Here's the research to explain City Mouse/Country Mouse and what made them similar yet different? Dr Peter Renfrow thinks there are three options to explain how people in a certain area of the country acquired distinctive characteristics associated with where they live.

1. Selective migration patterns - People move where they are comfortable, satisfied and find others like themselves. That's how my Italian grandparents came from northern Italy to Memphis, Tennessee. Seems like an odd place for them to settle. They came because there was a community of friends from the old country who said that they could like Southern people in America which is different than how they felt about Southern Italians ( another regional personality issue). In the same way, farm kids with big dreams move to urban areas and musicians flock to Nashville.

2. Social influences from people around them - Unless you choose to be isolated, you are influenced by the customs, traditions and behaviors of people around you. Social learning occurs when you are immersed in a place for continual time period. That bored farm kid can easily become hypervigilant, stressed and exhausted like other people around him in the fast-paced city.

3. Ecological influences - The geography and topography definitely impacts the population. Living in a rural area means thoughtful planning for shopping trips unlike a suburban area where driving to the mall happens on a whim.  Conversely people without cars in urban areas are more mobile due to available mass transit unlike those in smaller cities without mass transit who become mobility limited and have fewer job choices.

Think about how these factors influence your characters. Which characters move to dramatically different social environments? Is this key to the plot development? Do characters change behavior due to the move, then encounter internal or external conflicts because of that change? Consider how these three issues of regional personalities can be used to spice up your storyline.

Rentfrow,P. (Sept 2010). Statewide difference in personality:towards a psychological geography of the United States. American Psychologist, 65,6,548-558