Differing states of mind: Regional affiliation, personality judgment, and self-view

American folklore is filled with images of "typical" natives of different parts of the United States. However, there has been little empirical attention to the manner in which regional affiliation affects self or other judgments of personality. We describe 3 studies that represent the first systematic attempt to examine the impact of regional affiliation on personality judgment. Participants in Study 1 generated free response descriptions of typical natives of 10 areas of the United States. Other participants rated residents of these areas on scales derived from the free-response descriptions. Study 2 participants completed a person-perception task in which information about a target person's state of origin was manipulated. Remarkably similar patterns of data were revealed across the 2 studies. In Study 3, the impact of a person's place of origin on self and other judgments of personality was examined. Variations in people's self-descriptions as a function of regional affiliation were revealed.