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The Big Five and Southern Legislative Distinctiveness
Author(s) -
Turner Joel F.,
Kash Jeffrey P.,
Lasley Scott
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/ssqu.12581
Subject(s) - conscientiousness , optimal distinctiveness theory , agreeableness , extraversion and introversion , openness to experience , legislature , hierarchical structure of the big five , social psychology , personality , politics , neuroticism , big five personality traits , state (computer science) , psychology , political science , demographic economics , economics , law , algorithm , computer science
Objective Previous research has found that southern state legislators demonstrate more progressive ambition than their nonsouthern counterparts. This presents an interesting puzzle with regard to why this difference exists. In this article, we apply the Five‐Factor Model (conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion) to investigate whether regional personality differences exist that can help explain why southern legislators exhibit greater levels of progressive ambition than nonsouthern legislators. Methods Data from a national survey of state legislator are analyzed using ordinal regression. Results Our findings show that higher levels of extraversion and openness among the legislators are directly related to greater levels of political ambition. More specifically, southern legislators appear to possess disproportionately higher levels of extraversion and openness than their nonsouthern counterparts. This helps explain the greater levels of progressive ambition they express. Conclusions In addition to providing insight into progressive ambition, the results reinforce the notion of southern distinctiveness among state legislatures.