Journal article
Regional ambient temperature is associated with human personality
W Wei, JG Lu, AD Galinsky, H Wu, SD Gosling, PJ Rentfrow, W Yuan, Q Zhang, Y Guo, M Zhang, W Gui, XY Guo, J Potter, J Wang, B Li, X Li, YM Han, M Lv, XQ Guo, Y Choe Show all
Nature Human Behaviour | NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2017
Abstract
Human personality traits differ across geographical regions 1-5. However, it remains unclear what generates these geographical personality differences. Because humans constantly experience and react to ambient temperature, we propose that temperature is a crucial environmental factor that is associated with individuals' habitual behavioural patterns and, therefore, with fundamental dimensions of personality. To test the relationship between ambient temperature and personality, we conducted two large-scale studies in two geographically large yet culturally distinct countries: China and the United States. Using data from 59 Chinese cities (N = 5,587), multilevel analyses and machine learning a..
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Awarded by National Natural Science Foundation of China
Funding Acknowledgements
This research is partly supported by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grant no. 91224008 and no. 91324201 and the Foundation of Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health grant no. Z151100001615053 to L.W. We are grateful to V. Benet-Martinez, M. Morris, and E. Page-Gould for their valuable insights, and C. Chen, J. Chen, X. Di, Y. Huang, J. Jiang, M. Jiang, D. Li, M. Li, C. Liu, Y. Ma, J. Ma, L. Peng, L. Qiao, L. Ren, P. Wang, H. Yu, J. Zhang, M. Zhou and other graduate students working with L. W. for their help with data collection. We thank the China Meteorological Administration for providing the climate data and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for providing the disease data. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.