830 vIII. EMERGING  ISSuES AND  NEW  DIRECTIONS
logical characteristics relate to important 
population-  level outcomes. However, cau -
tion is needed when working with variables 
that can be measured at the levels of indi -
viduals and geographical regions, because 
the different levels are logically indepen -
dent. Failure to acknowledge this can lead 
researchers to make incorrect inferences 
about individuals from aggregate-  level data 
or about geographical regions on the basis 
of individual-  level data (Inglehart & Welzel, 
2003; Robinson, 1950).
Most research in geographical psychology 
aggregates data from groups of people with -
in geographical regions (e.g., cities, counties, 
states, countries), so it can take advantage of 
the large quantities of secondary data that 
are already collected and aggregated at these 
regional levels. As a result, researchers can 
connect regional differences in psychologi -
cal traits to a broad variety of existing mac -
rolevel indicators. Such analyses are useful, 
because they can shed light on the degree 
to which psychological processes generalize 
across multiple levels of geographic analysis. 
Thus far, most of the research concerning 
geographical personality differences has fo -
cused on how regional personality levels re -
late to political, economic, social, or health 
indicators.
Political  Indicators
Given evidence for regional variation in per -
sonality, it is reasonable to consider whether 
variation in political opinion is linked to 
variation in personality. Rentfrow, Jost, 
Gosling, and Potter (2009) examined links 
between regional personality differences 
and voting behavior in the United States. 
Using state-level personality data, the re -
sults revealed associations between state-
level personality traits and percentages of 
votes cast in the 1996, 2000, and 2004 U.S. 
Presidential elections. The findings suggest -
ed that states with high openness and low 
conscientiousness cast significantly more 
votes for Democrats, whereas states low in 
openness and high in conscientiousness sup -
ported Republicans (Rentfrow et al., 2009).
The links between regional variation in 
voting behavior and personality are not 
unique to American politics. In their investi -
gation of personality variation across Great Britain, Rentfrow et al. (2015) examined 
associations between the aggregate person -
ality traits of political constituencies and 
proportions of votes cast for the Labour, 
Conservative, and Liberal Democrat par -
ties in the 2005 and 2010 British General 
Elections. Consistent with the patterns ob -
served in the United States, the results indi -
cated that conscientiousness was positively 
related to votes for the Conservative party 
and negatively related to votes for Labour, 
and that openness was positively correlated 
with votes for the Liberal Democrats. These 
patterns of associations remained even after 
researchers controlled for the economic and 
population characteristics of regions.
Regional differences in openness and 
conscientiousness appear to be the primary 
personality traits that are associated with 
regional variation in political orientation. 
However, the political events of 2016, par -
ticularly the European Union (EU) referen -
dum in the United Kingdom and the election 
of President Trump, cast light on what ap -
pears to be a sense of anxiety and fear in cer -
tain regions of Great Britain and the United 
States, where citizens are concerned with 
threats to national identity. To understand 
these events and determine whether person -
ality may have contributed to the political 
outcomes, Obschonka and colleagues (2018) 
examined whether regional variation in neu -
roticism was related to support for leaving 
the EU and for Trump. The results indicated 
that regional levels of neuroticism, and the 
anxiety and depression facets were indeed 
linked to support for leaving the EU and 
for Trump. These results reveal a “sleeper” 
effect, such that the effects of anxiety and 
depression become influential in large-scale 
political behavior under certain conditions. 
More generally, the research demonstrates 
an important way in which psychological 
characteristics can contribute to understand -
ing the drivers behind large-scale social and 
political events.
Economic  Indicators
Research in macroeconomics focuses on 
the spatial organization of wealth, indus -
tries, and employment. Typically, research -
ers focus on factors such as gross domestic 
product (GDP), labor statistics, and unem -