Yet another category that ranks Rhode Island near the dregs of the national neighborhood is “extroversion,” identifying a collective that is “sociable, energetic and enthusiastic.” Rhody nabbed the 40th spot, meaning it is only slightly more extroverted than Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana, Oregon, Virginia, Idaho, Vermont, Washington, Alaska, New Hampshire and Maryland. Here’s the profile:
The strongest effect of a high extraversion rating is how much people socialize with others. Many people enjoy attending club meetings and spending time in bars. While outgoing and sociable, they are not necessarily friendly and warm – their socializing is probably more indiscriminate and not restricted to close friends. Large proportions of the population are employed in industries where social interaction is an essential aspect of working life, such as business (e.g.: sales) and healthcare (e.g.: nursing). Rates of robbery and murder are often high. People may tend to prefer in engaging in physical activities that involve other people, rather than exercising at home.
Hmm, that profile leaves Blog on the Half Shell stumped. If the strongest effect of high extraversion is socializing, wouldn’t a state that is 90 percent diner, pub, coffee shop and crowded beach rank higher? Almost everybody I know is an Elk or a Lion or a Rotarian. Some of my friends belong to the German-American Club, the Italian-American Club and the Portuguese-American Club – and they’re Irish! For night-crawlers, Providence is the biggest clubbing town in New England (even more diverse than Boston). The granges may be dead or dying, but socializing – whether with strangers or friends – is still ritualistic here. The only plausible theory is that when researchers polled Rhode Islanders on this topic, they were all at the casinos in Connecticut.
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