myPersonality Research

If all 16,551 people who have taken myPersonality’s Satisfaction With Life Scale were lined up from those most satisfied with their lives to those least satisfied, then the average person from the US’s most satisfied State, Vermont, would be in the 36th percentile, but the average person from the least satisfied State, Rhode Island, would be down in the 68th percentile. That’s a big difference considering that they are only about 80 miles apart.

Our data are shown in the graph below, displaying the aggregate Satisfaction With Life scores for all of the 50 US States and the District of Columbia. Also shown are error bars. Broadly, large error bars mean that we can be less certain of where the true score lies. For example, Wyoming has a large error bar because since it is the least populated state it is the one that we have the least amount of data for.

We compared the myPersonality rankings to those from the recent Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which also ranks US States, and found a favourable correlation between the two sets of rankings, suggesting that myPersonality’s analyses have validity when compared to this much more comprehensive poll.

Method & Results
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myPersonality has drawn maps of how the personalities of different states in the US differ. The most friendly and outgoing Americans are in the deep south, people on the east of America are less relaxed than people on the west, and the most trusting people are in the north western states.

myPersonality has also created a new feature that compares your personality to the personalities of each US State, and tells you which one is closest. Take myPersonality’s Big Five questionnaire to find out which state reflects your personality.

Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion

Agreeableness Neuroticism Click the images to view a larger version

Method and Results
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