NavList:

From the article:

...when shown a map of a hypothetical city and asked where they would like to live, people were significantly more likely to choose an area in the north of the city. And when another group of people were asked where fictitious people of different social status would live, they plotted them on the map with the richest in the north and poorest in the south.

Well, this is just odd.  Living in the zone where westerlies pertain, as I do, I always assume "west is best" because that is where the air is cleanest.  When you establish a town or city and create an industrial zone, it doesn't matter where that industrial zone is located:  the freshest air (and the higher real estate values) tend towards the west...upwind of the smokestacks.

So in North America, maybe at some level people do assume 'north is best', but when it comes time to make a downpayment in a non-hypothetical city, they go west if they can afford it.  Frankly, I think psychologists like this Brian Meier that the BBC article quotes, who get grant money to study unconscious valuing of words, probably did their PhD on the impact of folk art among Ukranian immigrant communities, and are looking for another, equally challenging intellectual mountain to climb.

Bob