You are where you live

London, Apr 19 (ANI): You're where you live, says a new study, which found that regional differences in personality types are becoming amplified.

Researchers at Cambridge University say that people are moving to areas of the UK where they feel most comfortable.

Londoners appear to be changing fastest, displaying sharply elevated levels of creativity, intellect, open-mindedness and extroversion when compared with people living in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the rest of England.

People living in Wales, by contrast, emerge from the Cambridge University study as less extrovert, less conscientious and more anxious than the English, Scots or Northern Irish.

Similar differences appear in the English regions, with people from Devon, Cornwall, Northumberland and Tyneside being the least outgoing and the most neurotic.

Lead researcher Jason Rentfrow said the findings indicated people's choice of place to live was now as important as choosing a career or spouse.

He found that more intelligent people with extrovert, open personalities would gravitate to cities while the more introverted and relaxed would head for rural areas or small towns.

"Our findings suggest they are happiest where their personalities most closely resemble that of the other people in that area," Rentfrow told The Sunday Times.

"London is becoming psychologically separate from the rest of the nation. People there tend to be, on average, more analytical, assertive, dominant, efficient and creative. People in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are less open-minded and less tolerant of differences," he added.

The data behind the study was taken from profiles of 11,088 people collected between 2002 and 2006. (ANI)