Could Calm be Contagious?

In the recent series Making Australia Happy there was some discussion about how we can catch a mood - or pass one on. In fact their website even has a Happiness Map.And you can find out more about these kinds of projects under the Happy Planet Index. 

I'm going to ask myself: "What mood do I want to pass on?" I noticed today as I drove in peak hour traffic in Melbourne that I was cranky about someone cutting in - but then I realised I could choose not to be. So I did. Nice :)

The University of Cambridge has this great article about mood mapping across geographies.... It makes me wonder.... can we create States of Serenity, Precincts of Peace, Neighbourhoods of Niceness, what about entire Countries of Calm? Yes! It appears we can. Let's try it.

Mapping personality types across countries ....

Ongoing research by Dr Jason Rentfrow, at the Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, and Dr Sam Gosling, at the University of Texas, aims to examine geographic variation in personality. In a large-scale project partially funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), data collected by online survey from over three-quarters of a million individuals in the USA revealed that personalities are not randomly distributed but are clustered into distinct geographic patterns.

It seems that residents of the Mid-Atlantic and New England states are relatively stressed, irritable and depressed, whereas West Coast residents are more emotionally stable, relaxed and calm than the rest of the country. The two coasts are quite similar on other traits, though. Traits associated with intellect, such as creativity, imagination, and openness, are higher in the Northeast and West Coast than in the Central and Southern states, where people are more pragmatic, straightforward and traditional. Compared with the rest of the country, residents of the Central and Southern states are also more neighbourly, friendly and generous.
One particularly important discovery is that the prevalence of certain personality traits is associated with a range of important geographic indicators. In states where rates of neuroticism are high, life expectancies are short and rates of cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes are high. In such places, residents are also less socially connected than in regions where people are more emotionally stable. In regions where intellect is high, more patents are produced per capita and more people work in the arts, technology and R&D than in places where intellect is low. The prevalence of traits associated with agreeableness, such as warmth, generosity and friendliness, is linked to lower crime rates – people are more trusting in safe places.