A Tale of Peaks and Valleys: Sinusoid Relationship Patterns Between Mountainousness and Basic Human Values

Mountains—mythic and majestic—have fueled widespread speculation about their effects on character. Emerging empirical evidence has begun to show that physical topography is indeed associated with personality traits, especially heightened openness. Here, we extend this work the domain of personal values, linking novel large-scale individual values data ( n = 32,666) objective indicators altitude mountainousness derived from satellite radar data. Partial correlations conditional random forest machine-learning algorithms demonstrate are related increased conservation decreased hedonism. Effect sizes generally small (| r| < .031) but comparable other socio-ecological predictors, such as population density latitude. The findings align dual-pressure model ecological stress, suggesting it might be most adaptive in mountains have an open effectively deal threats endorse conservative promote a social order minimizes threats.