Georges Brassens and the geography of personality

les imbeciles heureux

09Oct08

I only know the one Georges Brassens song. But that one song, La ballade des gens qui sont nés quelque part (ahem, roughly translated: The ballad of those who are born somewhere), sprang to mind the other day, and I can’t shake it off. It is a satire on chauvinism in general, and tells the story of those who get too excited in relating the merits of their particular locale.

So it could be about me. I live in Bath, a World Heritage City, don’t you know. Beautiful stone buildings, wonderful museums, great shopping, and don’t get me started on the music festivals. Have I mentioned the Children’s Literature Festival?… I did? You’ll not be surprised then that, happy fool that I am, I think Bath is different!

Well, not really. Closer to the truth may be that the Knackered Hack’s somewhat nomadic path thus far is more characteristic of the Beatles’ Nowhere Man.

But the reason why we live in a place now has scientific form, according to researchers at Cambridge University:-

The authors of the new study argue that the strongest personality traits within a given population become self-reinforcing by influencing the region’s life and culture.

For example, where the population is creative, imaginative and intellectual (as was found to be the case in states including New York and California), one might expect to find people who are interested in art, literature and science. This may in turn lead to the establishment of institutions such as universities and museums. These institutions then influence the views and values of the local populace, encourage more creative and imaginative people to move to the region, and give people who do not fit that profile less reason to live there.

Dr Jason Rentfrow, who was also behind a recent paper The content and validity of stereotypes about fans of 14 music genres, is cautious but nevertheless fairly confident that the findings stack up:-

Obviously it’s not as simple as saying that a person is guaranteed to be more anxious if they come from West Virginia or more religious because they happen to live in New Mexico; but we did find pretty clear signs that there are meaningful differences in the personalities of people living in different areas of the United States.

What is particularly impressive is that the results show the effects of personality on people’s social habits, values and lifestyles are so pronounced that they have an impact on much bigger social forces.”

I wonder if this is specific to the US, where population migrations and the evolution city identities might be a little more recent. About Bath–joking aside–I’ve tended to think that it has historically sat at the cross-roads between “mainland” England and the more independent and remote Celtic parts of the British Isles, making it a kind of cultural cross-roads, where metropolitan money meets Glastonbury grunge. And that this probably goes way back.

Before you think this is all hokum, a little more about the methodology:-

Using an established framework called the “Five Factor Model” they divided personality types into five broad categories: “Extraversion” (sociable, energetic, enthusiastic people); “Agreeableness” (warm, friendly, compassionate); “Conscientiousness” (dutiful, responsible, self-disciplined); “Neuroticism” (anxious, stressful, impulsive); and “Openness” (curious, intellectual, creative).

Over six years, 619,397 people from across the US took part in an online test in which they were asked to read 44 short statements, such as “I see myself as someone who is outgoing” and “I see myself as someone who is very religious”. The respondents had to mark their level of agreement with each statement on a scale of one to five.

When I’m next in the States, I’ll have to consider carefully how to plan my trip around the geographical clustering of personality traits that the study revealed. Turns out it’s not random:

“Neuroticism” was, for instance, highest in the east along a line stretching from Maine to Louisiana, and lowest in the west, suggesting that the country has an identifiable “stress belt”.

The Wall Street Journal has more here (possibly behind the subscription wall). Below is Georges Brassens. Lyrics (in French) are here, including a reference to Montcuq, which I think is now a legal requirement of the Académie Française. Loosen your ceinture a notch, crack open a bottle of red, strike up a Gauloise, kick back and enjoy.

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4552 Responsesles+imbeciles+heureux+2008-10-09+20%3A53%3A59knackeredhack to “les imbeciles heureux”

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1 jayprich on Oct 15th, 2008 said:

Thanks for blogging this. I read briefly some of the stats in here …his so called “neuroticism” seems mainly correlated to shorter mortality higher heart disease and higher cancer, I call that an unhealthy lifestyle not a personality trait; similarly consciensciousness correlates with religiousity and lack of interest in art, while openness correlates to positive answers in the survey about drugs as well as just liberal attitudes. Despite the somewhat extreme attributes – the idea is very attractive and I am pleased someone is studying the dynamics that make this stuff true; it might be more interesting to watch in detail in smaller groups than just survey populations. Conformity and herd instinct is hardly new. When I lived in Romford I had to be more “Essex”, it is part survival to fit in but partly stimulus/cues triggering a behaviour or actual enjoyment of an attitude. Now in Wimbledon different things are deemed acceptable/desirable, it is sometimes a straightjacket. Though when some pinstripe twit pushes in front of me in a bus queue I do revert to the Romfordian. (Excuse me a boring extrapolation but risk managers at banks also follow the consensus when most know it to be wrong as Taleb also points out, social pressure and incentive structures are irresistible to the herd as a whole.)

Aptitude and natural style is important, but you need the right environment to flourish. Perhaps we can reveal more from studying people that migrated … the outsiders.
2 knackeredhack on Oct 16th, 2008 said:

jayprich

Great comment. Gladwell’s new book Outliers is due out soon. I wonder if it will touch on some of that. Migration is interesting. I’ve read that for the first generation it can also act as a restraint. There’s a kind of opportunity cost of not having extended family around and that can hold back economic or educational progress, say where intensive study/practice/entrepreneurship is required, and you need cheap support for childcare and other tasks to allow that to happen.

Your last para also explains why people who are stars in one company do not always succeed when they move jobs. I think there are studies of that in financial firms, where informal networks play a bigger part in a person’s success than their CV and notional achievements would indicate. Move into the wrong culture and things can go into reverse.

Tim