Geography:
One way to watch how people act in different situations is to find different situations. That sounds simple enough, but it’s even simpler than it sounds in some ways. All I have to do is move from one place to another place that isn’t anything the same. This is more noticeable in some places than in others, but it applies everywhere. In any place, whatever factor has drawn the most people to that place governs the subjective-reality culture that evolves there. I call that the pervading mentality of the place, but I could just as easily call it the ice cream politics of the place. Everyone gets accustomed to dealing with that mentality, because that’s the mentality that “everyone” has, so anticipating it (or expecting it, or taking it for granted) is the easiest way for individual people to get along in their surroundings.
For instance, Boston was settled by some of the first European colonists in the early 1600s, and was settled by more Europeans as more waves came from whichever countries were the most destitute at any point in history. As a result, Boston has a strong sense of history and ethnicity—Irish neighborhoods, Italian neighborhoods, and lots of Revolutionary War monuments.
Las Vegas was settled by the gambling industry, and southern California was settled by the entertainment industry. Those two groups of people make up the most noticeable parts of their populations, and basically everyone who lives in those places either is those people or depends on those people for their livelihoods one way or another. Down East Maine was settled by sailors, and everyone who lives there either owns a boat or knows somebody who does—and even the name “Down East” is a sailing term. The Midwest is still the domain of farmers whose primary respite from working their asses off six days a week is to go to church on Sunday. Portland, Oregon was settled by hippies some decades ago and is now being colonized by a lot of south California refugees, which means that even elitist snobs there have to pretend to be open-minded and environmentally conscious. Salt Lake City and the rest of Utah was settled by Mormon pioneers, which means even the gay Pagans I knew there were more conservative than self-conscious Christians I’ve known in other places. Phoenix and the rest of the southwestern desert were the last lands of the continental U.S. to be conquered, which doesn’t mean Native American cultures influence the Phoenix metropolis very much, but the Mexicans and bandits who were the first European-descendants to settle here because no other White people wanted to live here established an attitude of determination and ambition, and there’s negligible cultural history to hang onto. In New Orleans people just do their own things the way they have always done and don’t really give a damn which country they belong to from one moment to the next. Washington DC has been settled by politicians, Texas was settled by cowboys, and most of Florida has been settled by retirees. And whatever you do, don’t mention Sherman in Savannah.