SODAS Lecture with Friedrich Götz

Title: The place to be? At the nexus of psychology and geography

Abstract: Nobody lives in a vacuum. Whoever we are and wherever we go, every second of our existence is spent in a physical and sociocultural environment that we inevitably interact with. Building on this simple fact of life, in the present talk I argue that geography is foundational to psychology and that to understand who we are we need to understand where we are. To support this claim, I present original empirical findings that speak to three broad questions: 1) how do places differ psychologically? 2) why do places differ psychologically? and 3) what do these differences mean for individuals and the places in which they live? To address these questions, in my lab I combine large-scale geo-tagged personality datasets with diverse real-world behavioral outcomes and ecological indicators (e.g., housing prices, personal financial records, patent production rates) across multiple countries (e.g., India, Japan, USA) and spatial levels (e.g., states, cities). Among other results, this work 1) demonstrates systematic regional variation in Big Five personality traits, cultural tightness, courage, and loneliness, 2) identifies various ecological (e.g., mountainousness, walkability, climate), sociocultural (e.g., frontier spirit), and economic factors that may contribute to geographical psychological differences, and 3) shows how regional psychological differences may contribute to outcomes as diverse as suicide rates and individual spending. In the current talk, I present a whistle-strop tour of this program of research that highlights some of its most compelling and vexing results. I conclude with personal reflections on doing research at the nexus of psychology and geography and a list of resources for interested researchers and practitioners.

Dr. Friedrich Götz (he/him) is an Assistant Professor in Social-Personality Psychology at the University of British Columbia, where he directs the Personality and Geographical Ambiance Laboratory (PANGEA LAB). Originally from Germany, Dr. Götz obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, and did a post-doc at the University of California, Berkeley. While easily excited about anything related to personality, the main focus of Dr. Götz’s research is on the causes and consequences of geographical personality differences. To study this, Dr. Götz pursues an interdisciplinary Big Data approach that seeks to combine classic interactionist theories from social and personality psychology with an applied behavioural science perspective and consequential real-world outcomes. Dr. Götz’s work has appeared in interdisciplinary and disciplinary journals such as Nature Human Behaviour, PNAS, American Psychologist, Perspectives on Psychological Science, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and is frequently featured in national and international media outlets such as Scientific American, Forbes, MSNBC, DIE ZEIT, Radiotelevisione Italiana, El País, Neue Zürcher Zeitung and the BBC.

At UBC, Dr. Götz teaches various personality courses and graduate classes on geographical psychology and advanced research methods. Outside of the lab, Dr. Götz enjoys running, kayaking and travelling and has a soft spot for dark chocolate, foreign languages, smoky Scotch, old cinemas, German poetry and long walks. He is hopeful that he’ll find a lot of these things in Copenhagen and is thrilled to meet you all at SODAS.