This group of people is more likely to buy things by mail, call all of their soft drinks “coke”, vote Republican, and listen to country music.

Who are they?

You probably said “Southerners” because you know that all of these behaviors represent Southern culture. In fact, people can quickly recognize that diverse attitudes go together among a group of people, or a culture. But this is kind of strange. There is no reason why calling all soft drinks “coke” and voting Republican, or surfing and hippies (Californians), or cheese steaks and Eagles fans (Philadelphians) should go together. So how is it that cultures collect very diverse attitudes that every one recognizes.

There is a fascinating new paper in the most recent issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin that studies how a group of people can develop a culture, or similar attitudes. The authors, Jerry Cullum (University of Wyoming) and Helen Harton (University of Northern Iowa) looked at residence halls on a college campus over an entire school year. They found that students who lived in the same residence hall adopted the same attitudes. As the year progressed students in the hall tended to think more alike on important topics. They also found that important attitudes became linked over the year. If students in a specific house believed one important issue (cloning a human being is unethical) they also tended to believe another important issue (the United States should use military force in Iraq) even if the issues had little to do with each other.

This makes sense, when we live close to someone we tend to talk to them more, exchange ideas, and debate issues. The more we do that, the more we tend to see their point of view and find common ground. And this is a pretty nice thing since we tend to get along better with those we are similar too.

Further Reading:

Cullum, J., & Harton, H. C. (2007). Cultural evolution: Interpersonal influence, issue importance, and the development of shared attitudes in college residence halls. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1327-1339.