Psychologist Shigehiro Oishi worked from prior theories of “person-environment fit”, which says people actively select environments to match them - such as introverts seeking quiet and solitude and the more outgoing among us happy to find somewhere that offers the chance to interact.

Previous studies have looked at how this works in offices and other social environments, while the new study, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, shows the theory appears to translate to physical environment, with extroverts preferring wide, open spaces such as the beach and introverts preferring woods and mountains. Otherwise, there were no other significant personality differences between those who liked the beach and those who liked the mountains.

The research comprised of five studies, one of which explored whether where someone lived had an effect on their personality in the first place. Using results from 613,000 respondents to a personality survey, the paper concludes, “We found that residents of mountainous U.S. states were more introverted than residents of flat states”, although it's difficult to say whether the introverted clustered there or were introverted as a result of living there.

To that end, another test was carried out where students were interviewed in two different spaces - open areas and secluded areas - and their responses analysed. Neither environment made the students more or less introverted or extroverted than they already were, but each group was happier in the space that correlated to their personality type.

So if the idea of a beach is your nightmare holiday, or you can't think of anything worse than miles of scenery without another living soul in sight, consider that it may be down to how outgoing - or not - you are. And choose your travelling companions wisely.

Words: Amy Swales / Images: Rex Features

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