Some Like It Flat

From the mountain man of the West to the quiet monk of the East, the notion that hills and mountains attract solitary types exists in many cultures. But is there any truth to it? A paper in the Journal of Research in Personality, which examines the association between our personalities and the places we are drawn to, suggests that there is.

People who scored high on measures of introversion showed a preference for visiting mountainous areas, researchers found, while extraverts favored being near the ocean. “Mountains tend to be less crowded and harder to get to,” says Thomas Talhelm, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and co-author of the paper. “You’re more likely to be secluded, which is why we think they appeal to introverts. Near oceans, you’re more likely to see and interact with others.”

Using previously recorded personality measures from state samples, the researchers also found that residents of mountainous states like Washington and Montana tended to test higher for introversion than those of flatter states like Iowa and Florida. Does geography actually make people more introverted or extraverted? Talhelm thinks it’s more likely that some kinds of places attract particular types. Researchers observed subjects interacting in both open, flat spaces and more isolated, wooded areas to see if a change of setting would influence their dispositions, even temporarily. Participants were no more or less talkative as a result of being in the woods, but introverts reported feeling happier there.

Credit: Woman sitting on mountain top by Lolostock/Shutterstock