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Research Finds State-by-State Personality Differences; Where Do You Fit?

Todd Epp wrote an interesting summary last week of a new study on regional personality. South Dakota falls into a region of "friendly and conventional" people spanning the Midwest and South. Out West, reserachers find more "relaxed and creative" folks, while the Northeast and Texas tend toward "temperamental and uninhibited" personalities.

Leo Kallis follows up by linking to a quick and diverting personality quiz on Time that uses that personality research to help map which state would fit your personality best. My friend Leo ends up in Indiana; I end up in Florida. I've driven through Indianapolis, and I've never been to Florida, so I cannot speak to the accuracy of either result.

But don't spend all day gazing at your own navel. If you really want to have fun, punch the people you know... into the Time personality-geography widget and see where they end up! I try out South Dakota's U.S. Senate candidates, based entirely on my impression of them from speeches, news reports, and personal meetings (I've talked face to face with Weiland, Nelson, and Rhoden):

  • Rick Weiland: Georgia
  • Mike Rounds: Nebraska
  • Stace Nelson: Pennsylvania
  • Larry Rhoden: North Dakota
  • Annette Bosworth: Maine

Punch in your impressions and see where you put the candidates!

32 Comments

  1. Kevin Weiland 2013.10.28

    Hey Cory, I took the test, applied it to myself. I belong in.....wait for it.....wait for it.......

  2. Todd Epp 2013.10.28

    District of Columbia for me. Which is odd. I love to visit but I wouldn't want to live there! ;)

  3. Kevin Weiland 2013.10.28

    Georgia.

  4. owen reitzel 2013.10.28

    South Carolina. Explains why I like South American women. sigh

    Please somebody keep me from jumping off a bridge!!

  5. Bill Fleming 2013.10.28

    Hmmm... my good friend Bill Harlan's moving to Georgia.

    Mine says Mississippi. Who knew?

    How come you didn't try a guess about Noem, Cory?

  6. Roger Cornelius 2013.10.28

    Yuck! Georgia.

    Been there done that, not again

  7. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.10.28

    Get outta town, Kevin! Call Ted and Kenny and your mom, have them try it!

  8. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.10.28

    Ask and ye shall receive, Bill! Noem comes up North Dakota. Now what would also be interesting would be to have a hundred South Dakotans punch in their impressions of Kristi Noem and see how they differ!

  9. Rorschach 2013.10.28

    North Carolina for me. Never been there, but relatives from both sides of my family have moved there and stayed.

  10. Mike Quinlivan 2013.10.28

    What do you call a pile of s--- that is on fire half of the time?.....Oklahoma.

    Which I am supposed to represent. How odd...

  11. Deb Geelsdottir 2013.10.28

    Nevada. Considering my dislike of gambling, glitz and glitter, makes absolutely no sense. But, I do love vast spaces, desert, mountains, quiet. So, ya, I guess Nevada is okay. Except for the politics!

    I'm not going!!!

  12. interested party 2013.10.28

    Florida: will be there for first two months of new year.

  13. Joan Brown 2013.10.28

    Mine came up Wyoming, and I strongly disagree. I belong in Hawaii because I really hate winter weather.

  14. interested party 2013.10.28

    Joan: are you still in the state? Considered running for office?

  15. Jenny 2013.10.28

    Indiana, no I'm NOT a hillbilly.

  16. Donald Pay 2013.10.28

    Colorada, because people like me are colorful and rad.

  17. Jana 2013.10.28

    Georgia on my mind.

  18. Stan Gibilisco 2013.10.28

    Actually I belong on Vega VII. Hit my name in blue, above.

  19. Deb Geelsdottir 2013.10.28

    FYI: West Virginia is the most neurotic state in the union.

  20. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.10.29

    Stace shows some fun dissonance between self-perception and the perception of others. :-)

  21. Eve Fisher 2013.10.29

    North Carolina. Already was there once, during grad school.

  22. Mark Vargo 2013.10.29

    The question is whether Kevin W. would be more out of place in Georgia than I would be in . . . California?

  23. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.10.29

    Mark, I suspect you and Kevin could light up any room in any state. :-)

  24. Douglas Wiken 2013.10.29

    Well, without thinking too deeply about the questions and answers, "my" state turned out to be Florida. I have never had any desire to get within a 1000 miles of the place. I also wonder what if anything it means when "interested party" who considers me to be an asshole, also turns up ripe for Florida. I am now wondering which state would turn up if I lied about every response and picked only the very best of the best.

    f

  25. Wayne Pauli 2013.10.29

    Florida for me...yes, I can see that about myself...spent my whole life in the snow belt and I hate snow...

  26. Roger Cornelius 2013.10.29

    Wilken, reading your comments, I think you pretty much belong in South Dakota.

  27. Joan Brown 2013.10.29

    Interested party, I am still in SD, have been here all of my 73 years. I'm just plain too old and my health isn't good enough to run for anything. I have often wondered why, when I was in my 30s I didn't relocate someplace warm. Since I got smart enough to wonder that, I'm too old to relocate someplace where I don't know anybody. Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

  28. Douglas Wiken 2013.10.29

    South Dakota would be a lot nicer in the winter time if cities here would clear sidewalks of snow as they did in Rochester, NY forty years ago. As it is, filling driveways with as much snow as possible seems to be the major aim of guys on snowplows. That is a slight exaggeration of course, but shoveling it makes it seem that way.

  29. Bree S. 2013.11.01

    Montana.

Comments are closed.