Personality can be deduced from someone's bedroom
22 March 2002
You might not be able to judge a book by its cover, but you can certainly judge a person by the state of their bedroom, according to US researchers.
They have found that just one look into a person's bedroom or office is enough to make an accurate guess about personality, especially if those traits are openness or conscientiousness. The findings were reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2002; 82: 379-398).
Cues to conscientiousness included neat, uncluttered, well-organised rooms, while openness was judged according to the variety of books and magazines in view.
The findings were calculated from two separate studies, in which 94 offices and 83 bedrooms were assessed by 15 personality-raters under 5 different categories — openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and emotional stability.
While the raters were accurate in their assessment of openness and conscientiousness qualities, they were less likely to pick extroversion and agreeableness.
These findings differed from the results of similar studies, in which photographs, video clips and evaluations of people's reputations were used to assess personality.
In these studies, the researchers found that people could accurately assess extroversion and agreeableness but had a harder time determining conscientiousness and openness.
'Should you decide to date someone by looking at their bedroom?' lead researcher and University of Texas psychologist Dr Samuel Gosling said.
'If openness is important to you, sure. But if extroversion is important, you might want to meet them first. It seems to depend on what information you want.'
When few cues were available, personality-raters were also found to rely on gender and racial stereotypes, particularly when assessing emotional stability.
Last Reviewed: 28 March 2002
- 1. Medical Observer Weekly 22/03/02
