Where You Are Is Who You Are? The Geographical Account of Psychological Phenomena

Abstract

Geographical psychology aims to study the spatial distribution of psychological phenomenon at different levels of geographical analysis and their relations to macro-level important societal outcomes. The geographical perspective provides a new way of understanding interactions between humankind psychological processes and distal macro-environments. Studies have identified the spatial organizations of a wide range of psychological constructs, including (but not limited among) personality, individualism/collectivism, cultural tightness-looseness, and well-being; these variations have been plotted over a range of geographical units (e.g., neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries) and have been linked to a broad array of political, economic, social, public health, and other social consequences. Future research should employ multi-level analysis, taking advantage of more deliberated causality test methods and big data techniques, to further examine the emerging and evolving mechanisms of geographical differences in psychological phenomena.