Title: Putting the Environment Back in Person-Environment Fit
Abstract: Psychology scientists have recognized for decades that individual behavior is a function of both the person and the environment. However, due to a dominant focus on individual differences, psychological data on intergroup bias have historically been collected through small, controlled experiments with the individual as the unit of analysis – to the relative exclusion of the environment. Recent technological advancements facilitate massive amounts of data to be collected from diverse populations and locations. Capitalizing on these newly-available data, researchers can geolocate the responses of individuals to provide insight into regional variation in intergroup biases with a degree of ecological validity impossible in the laboratory. In this talk, I will present correlational evidence linking regional biases to outcomes of consequence, propose a novel theoretical perspective for understanding regional intergroup bias, and discuss future directions for this emerging line of research.
