According to a staple in psychological research, people enjoy benefits when they match their environment (i.e., when their individual attributes are shared by those around them). While this concept has traditionally been examined in immediate contexts (e.g., partnerships or work teams), a new line of research is taking it to the streets—quite literally. Specifically, in recent years several studies found that people report higher wellbeing when they live in cultural contexts, where their individual attributes are common among the local population (e.g., open-minded people being more satisfied with their life when they live in open-minded places). In this talk, we present evidence from multiple recent studies suggesting that the beneficial effects of person-culture match generalize across content domains (e.g., religiosity, political convictions, physiological attributes), outcomes (e.g., psychological wellbeing, physical health, mortality), and data sources (e.g., traditional archival and novel digital data). Among others, we will show that Republicans live longer in Republican (but not in Democratic) states or that people with obesity suffer less adverse consequences in regions with high obesity rates. We will discuss the psychological and societal implications of these findings and outline (what we currently see as) major limitations in research on person-culture match.
