Tightness–looseness across the 50 united states
Open accessAbstract
Significance: The 50 states of the United States of America show great diversity in ecological and historical conditions, personality characteristics, and outcomes. Still, little insight exists that explains this variation. We argue that there is a common principle by which we can understand these differences: namely, that the states differ in tightness (many strongly enforced rules and little tolerance for deviance) versus looseness (few strongly enforced rules and greater tolerance for deviance). We develop a valid and reliable state-level tightness–looseness index, provide state rankings, and show how tightness is related to ecological and man-made threats, personality characteristics, and state-level outcomes. Ultimately, this substantiates theory suggesting that tightness–looseness is an adaptation to local environments and, therefore, is beneficial in understanding cultural variation across numerous levels of analysis.
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Cultural tightness emerges following threat because it curbs defection and increases coordination.
“Evolutionary game theory models and behavioral data suggest that cultural tightness emerges following threat because it curbs defection and increases coordination [28–29].”
From Ecological and cultural factors underlying the global distribution of prejudice (2019) · cites this paper as [29]
Across contemporary nations and US states, cultural tightness is negatively correlated with openness to new ideas and societal innovations that disrupt the social order.
“Across contemporary nations [24] and US states [29], cultural tightness is negatively correlated with openness to new ideas and societal innovations that disrupt the social order [31–32]”
From Ecological and cultural factors underlying the global distribution of prejudice (2019) · cites this paper as [29]
Tightness and conservatism correlate highly across American states.
“Controlling for political conservativism was important in Study 2 because tightness and conservatism correlate highly across American states [29].”
From Ecological and cultural factors underlying the global distribution of prejudice (2019) · cites this paper as [29]
Like nations, tighter states have historically faced more threat (e.g., infectious diseases, floods, resource scarcity) than looser states.
“Like nations, tighter states have historically faced more threat (e.g., infectious diseases, floods, resource scarcity) than looser states [29].”
From Ecological and cultural factors underlying the global distribution of prejudice (2019) · cites this paper as [29]
Harrington and Gelfand found that relatively tighter states such as Alabama and Virginia have higher execution rates, less access to alcohol, and more frequent corporal punishment in schools compared to relatively looser states like Nevada or Washington.
“For example, Harrington and Gelfand [29] found that relatively tighter states such as Alabama and Virginia have higher execution rates, less access to alcohol, and more frequent corporal punishment in schools compared to relatively looser states like Nevada or Washington.”
From Ecological and cultural factors underlying the global distribution of prejudice (2019) · cites this paper as [29]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Harrington, J. R., & Gelfand, M. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- ORCID
- Gelfand, Michele J.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2014-05-19
- Volume
- 111
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- 7990-7995
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC4050535
- OpenAlex
- W1990470606
- Cited by
- 708
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 49 · 2025: 89 · 2024: 122 · 2023: 63 · 2022: 79 · 2021: 91 · 2020: 76 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 38 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 3
- FWCI
- 36.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- tightness-looseness, cultural tightness, punishment, state-level variation, natural disasters, disease prevalence, natural resources, external threats, social stability, alcohol and drug use, homelessness, social disorganization, incarceration, creativity, happiness, United States states
- MeSH terms
- City Planning, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Cultural Characteristics, Disasters, Humans, Public Health, Rural Population, Social Conditions, Social Conformity, Social Problems, Social Values, Socioeconomic Factors, United States, Ecosystem, Cultural Diversity
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