An international group of psychologists has stated that climate can be one of the factors that can influence personality development.
Psychologists from China and the United States conducted a study involving 1,666,225 people and concluded that the climate of the region where a person grew up can influence his personality traits. People from mild climates were found to be more prone to emotional stability, extraversion, and openness to new experiences.
The polls involved 5,587 residents in 59 Chinese cities and 1,660,638 Americans in 12,499 postal districts. In China, the study involved students who, before entering university, lived in their hometown, without moving anywhere. In the United States, scientists surveyed a wide range of people with different educational backgrounds. The participants filled out a questionnaire of 40 questions, created on the basis of the "big five" - one of the psychological models of human personality. She assesses the degree of manifestation of five main traits: a tendency to extroversion, openness to new experiences, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and a tendency to neuroticism (the degree of emotional stability).
The survey data were compared with the average temperatures of the regions in which the respondents rose. The more the temperatures deviated from the average of 22 ° C, the less mild the climate was considered. The researchers also examined other characteristics of the regions: GDP per capita, population density, the incidence of influenza, and the area of rice and wheat fields in the region.
All the indices of the “big five” were higher among people from territories with milder average temperatures. Psychologists associate these qualities with a person's ability to socialize (pleasantness in communication, conscientiousness, emotional stability) and personality plasticity (openness to new things, the level of extraversion). The connection remained between the Chinese and the Americans, regardless of age, gender, and income. Psychologists believe that a mild climate allows a person to spend more time in communication with others. Also, residents of "mild" climates have more options for leisure activities. All this, according to psychologists, can contribute to the development of the qualities of the "big five". The authors of the work emphasize that climate is not the only factor influencing the development of a person's personality.
The research is published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.
Natalia Pelezneva