The term is also applied to a general atmosphere of social toleration in which the discrimination and prejudice 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 and created through the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
[1][2] Social commentators such as Eric Scott of The Huffington Post 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.
Mel Schlachter of Iowa City 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.
[1] In statistical terms, a national study published in the scholarly journal Perspectives on Psychological Science by researchers Peter Rentfrow, Samuel Gosling, and Jeff Potter in 2008 analyzed personality traits of individuals in different parts of the U.S.