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

Front Psychol. 2020 Mar 24:11:536. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00536. eCollection 2020.

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.

Keywords: big data; cultural values; geographical psychology; personality; well-being.

Publication types

  • Review