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

American folklore is filled with images of "typical" natives of different p arts of the United States. However, there has been little empirical attenti on to the manner in which regional affiliation affects self or other judgme nts of personality. We describe 3 studies that represent the first systemat ic attempt to examine the impact of regional affiliation on personality jud gment. Participants in Study 1 generated free response descriptions of typi cal natives of 10 areas of the United States. Other participants rated resi dents of these areas on scales derived from the free-response descriptions. Study 2 participants completed a person-perception task in which informati on about a target person's state of origin was manipulated. Remarkably simi lar patterns of data were revealed across the 2 studies. In Study 3, the im pact of a person's place of origin on self and other judgments of personali ty was examined. Variations in people's self-descriptions as a function of regional affiliation were revealed.