The third line of research focuses on selective migration, or the hypothesis that people migrate to places that satisfy and reinforce their psychological needs. Recent research indicates that people who are creative and sociable are more likely to migrate than are people low on those traits [9,10], and that people who are agreeable are less inclined to move from their hometowns than people who are less friendly [23]. This work suggests that geographical differences in personality could emerge as a result of genetic drift.

The first focuses on social influence. The basic idea is that the traditions, customs, lifestyles, and daily practices common to an area affect social norms, which in turn affect people’s attitudes and behaviors.

Systematic comparisons of nation-level mean personality scores reveal considerable variability in each of the Big Five personality domains

Future research is needed to better understand the scale and impact of person-environment associations over time.

Furthermore, results from large multilevel studies have shown that the psychological characteristics of individuals interact with features of the local environment to impact psychological development and well-being.

Studies at multiple levels of analysis have indicated that social influence, ecological influence, and selective migration are key mechanisms that contribute to the spatial clustering of psychological characteristics.

Just as personality shapes an individual, so it does society. Regions high in extroversion have more people in occupations like sales and nursing where social interaction is essential. Their residents are also more socially involved. Conscientiousness goes along with healthy behaviors, and tends to breed more computer scientists, who prefer "systematic and focused tasks and clearly defined rules," says Rentfrow. But there are more artists and entertainers in low-conscientiousness and high-openness places—as well as high patent production.

personality predicts such important outcomes as health, job performance and academic success— things that we pretend are matters of conscious control or public policy

About 20 years ago scientists established that combinations of five basic dimensions—extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to new ideas and experiences—account for all personalities.

The Swiss rate themselves as highly conscientious; Indians and Canadians see themselves as agreeable

The child's ordinal position in the family has its most important influence on receptivity to accepting or rejecting the requests and ideas of legitimate authority. First-born children in most families are more willing than later-born children to conform to the requests of authority. They are more strongly motivated to achieve in school, more conscientious, and less aggressive.

A final source of hypotheses regarding the origins of personality comes from inferences based on direct observations of a child's behavior

children who had the same objective experiences develop different personality profiles because they construct different conceptions about themselves and others from the same experiences. The notion that each child imposes a personal interpretation to their experiences makes the concept of self critical to the child's personality.

the nature of the infant's relationship to the caretakers and especially the mother created a profile of emotional reactions toward adults that might last indefinitely.

Freud suggested that differences in parental socialization produced variation in anxiety, which, in turn, leads to different personalities.

There are five different hypotheses regarding the early origins of personality. One assumes that the child's inherited biology,

Social scientists have argued that technology, human capital and community are essential ingredients for economic and social prosperity. But it now appears that we have another set of useful ingredients with which to work. It will be informative to examine how the Big Five are distributed in other countries and whether the processes connecting traits and geographic indicators are similar.

A third explanation is environmental influence.

Another explanation is social influence.

One explanation for the geographic clustering of personality traits is selective migration – the idea that people choose to live in places that meet their needs.

And numerous studies have shown that differences between individuals are associated with important life outcomes, from academic and occupational success, to marital stability and physical health.

Evidence from studies of identical twins suggests that the Big Five have a substantial genetic basis.

These so-called Big Five dimensions – Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Intellect – provided a basic model for conceptualising and measuring personality.