“You typically have your home as a restorative base to come back to after engaging with the world, and it’s a way to break up your routine. The findings suggest that the places we choose to frequent can affect not only our thinking, feelings or behavior in the moment, but may actually change our personalities over time. “We found that when people spend time in social places, they tend to be more open-minded, extraverted, agreeable, conscientious and less anxious compared to when they spend time at home,” said study co-author Gabriella Harari, an assistant professor of communication in Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences. The research found that people’s personalities and the places they spend time in seem to influence one another. New research could help explain why some people may be coping better than others with recommendations to shelter in place at home.
