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SUMMARY:The place to be? At the nexus of psychology and geography - Friedr
 ich Goetz (University of British Columbia)
DTSTART:20250317T150000Z
DTEND:20250317T160000Z
UID:TALK229468@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Yara Kyrychenko
DESCRIPTION:Nobody lives in a vacuum. Whoever we are and wherever we go\, 
 every second of our existence is spent in a physical and sociocultural env
 ironment that we inevitably interact with. Building on this simple fact of
  life\, in the present talk I argue that geography is foundational to psyc
 hology and that to understand who we are we need to understand where we ar
 e. To support this claim\, I introduce a new conceptual framework to syste
 matise and guide research at the intersection of psychology and geography.
  I then present original empirical findings that speak to three broad ques
 tions: 1) how do places differ psychologically? 2) why do places differ ps
 ychologically? and 3) what do these differences mean for individuals and t
 he places in which they live? To address these questions\, in my lab I com
 bine large-scale geo-tagged personality datasets with diverse real-world b
 ehavioral outcomes and ecological indicators (e.g.\, housing prices\, pers
 onal financial records\, patent production rates) across multiple countrie
 s (e.g.\, India\, Japan\, USA) and spatial levels (e.g.\, states\, cities)
 . Among other results\, this work 1) demonstrates systematic regional vari
 ation in Big Five personality traits\, cultural tightness\, courage\, and 
 loneliness\, 2) identifies various ecological\, sociocultural\, and econom
 ic factors that may contribute to geographical psychological differences\,
  and 3) shows how regional psychological differences may contribute to out
 comes as diverse as divorce rates\, political conservatism\, and individua
 l spending. In the current talk\, I present a whistle-stop tour of this pr
 ogram of research that highlights some of its most compelling and vexing r
 esults. I conclude with personal reflections on doing research at the nexu
 s of psychology and geography and a list of resources for interested resea
 rchers and practitioners.
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology\, Downing
  Site\, Cambridge
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