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Abstract

Over the past decade, interest in geographical approaches to psychology has flourished and a large literature has accumulated. The emerging perspective of geographical psychology is an interdisciplinary approach to human activity that focuses on the spatial organization of psychological experiences (e.g., Rentfrow, 2010, 2014; Rentfrow, Gosling, & Potter, 2008; Rentfrow & Markus, 2016). In recent years, this view has successfully integrated research across epidemiology, political science, urban design, economics, and geography by promoting the tradition of studying behaviour in the context of physical space. In a broad sense, the goal of this thesis is to provide additional evidence of the benefits of exploring psychological phenomena using a geographical perspective. Two streams of information provide support for this position: (1) a review of the relevant literature in geographical, evolutionary, and personality psychology; (2) six peer-reviewed published studies, all co-authored by the current author, that address individual differences in personality, attachment, and romantic behaviour across cultural and geographic regions. The total composition is divided into four major sections that provide a detailed overview of geographical, evolutionary, and personality psychology before presenting prior publications and future research directions. Part I introduces the rationale for the dissertation and includes a critical review of research on geographic distributions of psychological variables. Part II covers evolutionary and personality approaches and presents three empirical studies dealing with personality patterns and romantic attachment. Part III contains a chapter on emotions in romantic relationships and three cross cultural prior publications. The work concludes with a general discussion in Part IV wherein a general model, future research directions, and limitations are considered.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Departments:	Doctoral Theses School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Psychology School of Health & Psychological Sciences > School of Health & Psychological Sciences Doctoral Theses

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