[Spexxvet]

Interesting article on findings indicating that Southerners are more violent than northerners.

The authors have also conducted an ingenious and intriguing series of social-psychological experiments to show that Southerners respond to threats and insults in different ways than Northerners do. This is some of the best evidence ever assembled on the violent proclivities of Southerners and a formidable challenge to the many scholars (oddly enough, most of them Yankees) who have pooh-poohed the "regional subculture of violence" thesis. In one series of experiments, subjects were affronted and insulted (for example, an associate of the experimenter would "accidentally" bump into the subject while walking down the hall and mutter "asshole"), then tested for cortisol and testosterone levels as well as assessed with paper-and-pencil tests. Sure enough, Southern males in these experiments showed significantly stronger physiological and attitudinal responses than Northern males. In another study, observers stationed in the hall (pretending to do homework but actually observing closely) noted whether the subjects' reactions to the insult were amusement or anger. Southern subjects were significantly less amused and marginally more angry than Northern subjects.

What assholes!