Iowa nice (adaptation of “Minnesota nice”) is a cultural label used to describe the

stereotypical In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

attitudes and behaviors of residents within the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, particularly in terms of the friendly

agreeableness Agreeableness is a personality trait manifesting itself in individual behavioral characteristics that are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm, and considerate. In contemporary personality psychology, agreeableness is one of the five ...

and emotional trust shown by individuals who are otherwise strangers. While the term's precise meaning is difficult to define, 'Iowa nice' as a concept has been touched upon by both national publications such as ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' and Iowan publications such as ''

The Gazette The Gazette (stylized as the GazettE), formerly known as , is a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band, formed in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa in early 2002.''Shoxx'' Vol 106 June 2007 pg 40-45 The band is currently signed to Sony Music Recor ...

'' and '' The Quad City Times''. It can be analogized to the similar notions of

Minnesota nice Minnesota nice is a cultural stereotype applied to the behavior of people from Minnesota and Wisconsin implying residents are unusually courteous, reserved, mild-mannered and passive-aggressive against people who are not like them. The phrase al ...

and

Southern hospitality Southern hospitality is a phrase used in American English to describe cultural stereotype of the Southern United States, with residents perceived to show kindness, warmth, and welcoming of visitors to their homes, or to the South in general. Orig ...

Background and additional details

While without a strict definition, Iowa nice is seen to generally mean actions such as pulling over to a roadside to help somebody else with vehicle troubles (i.e. changing a

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...

). The term also gets applied to a general atmosphere of social

toleration Toleration is the allowing, permitting, or acceptance of an action, idea, object, or person which one dislikes or disagrees with. Political scientist Andrew R. Murphy explains that "We can improve our understanding by defining "toleration" as a ...

in which the

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

and

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

more accepted in other places of the U.S. is absent or downplayed, a specific example being how the Des Moines Human Rights Commission came into being in 1951 compared to the national agencies promoted over a decade later by

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

and created through the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

. Social commentators such as Eric Scott of ''

'' have stated that the concept's limits deserve more attention even as its positive sides remain strong. He wrote in 2017 that Iowa nice has "led to complacency and an expectation that issues needing to be addressed will be handled by our local leaders." Writing for ''

'', a publication based out of

Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...

, Rev. Mel Schlachter of

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

has argued that while "conflict avoidance can be a downside" of the state ethos and needed confrontations can get put aside, the concept still results in an atmosphere of "hospitality and cordiality all the way" through society that enhances the

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

. During the 2018 student walk-outs and social protests over gun violence, multiple students in the

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

area demonstrated using slogans that they were "done being Iowa nice". In statistical terms, a national study published in the

scholarly journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...

Perspectives on Psychological Science ''Perspectives on Psychological Science'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal of psychology. It is published by SAGE Publications on behalf of the Association for Psychological Science. The journal was established in 2006 and the editor-i ...

'' by researchers Peter Rentfrow, Samuel Gosling, and Jeff Potter in 2008 analyzed personality traits of individuals in different parts of the U.S. The scholars found that Iowans scored as the fifteenth most agreeable and fifteenth most

extraverted The traits of extraversion (also spelled extroversion Retrieved 2018-02-21.) and introversion are a central dimension in some human personality theories. The terms ''introversion'' and ''extraversion'' were introduced into psychology by Carl J ...

Americans compared to those of the other fifty states.

Related concepts

It can be analogized to the similar notions of

and

. Iowa's neighboring state of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

adopted "Nebraska nice" as a tourism slogan in 2018, after several decades of its use in reference to Nebraska's stadium having a reputation as having the "nicest fans in college football." The concept of a

Seattle Freeze The Seattle Freeze is, according to widely held belief, a difficulty with making new friends in the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington, particularly for transplants from other areas. A 2005 article in ''The Seattle Times'' appears to be the first k ...

can function as a kind of

antonym In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is ''long'' entails that it is not ''short''. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members ...

. Friday, September 4, 2020

References

{{reflist

External links

"'This Ain’t the Ghetto': Diaspora, Discourse, and Dealing with 'Iowa Nice'"
Iowa culture Personality traits Kindness Stereotypes

Background and additional details

Related concepts

See also

References

External links