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"Wisconsin ranked second for 'extraversion' behind North Dakota and fifth for 'agreeableness,' again, behind No. 1 North Dakota..."

Well, hell, I'm moving to North Dakota.

Looks like Wisconsin is a hotbed of nice.

?It appears people who live there are healthy, friendly, socially outgoing,? said Jason Rentfrow, a Louisiana-born, English-based lecturer in social and political sciences at Cambridge. ?It looks like people are calm, even-tempered, down-to-earth and practical.?...

People were asked to read 44 short statements ? such as, ?I see myself as very outgoing? ? and rate their level of agreement on a scale of one to five....

[Wisconsin] ranked 20th for conscientiousness, 35th for neuroticism and 47th for openness.

Hey, wait a second! 47th for openness? Why am I believing self-assessments of niceness from people who are not "open"? Why am I believing self-assessments of openness from people who are not open? This survey seems to collapse on itself.

That said, you've got to see the important inverse correlation between niceness and openness. How do you think people are able to be so nice?

Full post as published by Althouse on September 11, 2008 (boomark / email).