Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You

Sam Gosling

May 2009 · Sold by Basic Books

About this eBook

Does what's on your desk reveal what's on your mind? Do those pictures on your walls tell true tales about you? And is your favorite outfit about to give you away? For the last ten years psychologist Sam Gosling has been studying how people project (and protect) their inner selves. By exploring our private worlds (desks, bedrooms, even our clothes and our cars), he shows not only how we showcase our personalities in unexpected-and unplanned-ways, but also how we create personality in the first place, communicate it others, and interpret the world around us. Gosling, one of the field's most innovative researchers, dispatches teams of scientific snoops to poke around dorm rooms and offices, to see what can be learned about people simply from looking at their stuff. What he has discovered is astonishing: when it comes to the most essential components of our personalities-from friendliness to flexibility-the things we own and the way we arrange them often say more about us than even our most intimate conversations. If you know what to look for, you can figure out how reliable a new boyfriend is by peeking into his medicine cabinet or whether an employee is committed to her job by analyzing her cubicle. Bottom line: The insights we gain can boost our understanding of ourselves and sharpen our perceptions of others. Packed with original research and fascinating stories, Snoop is a captivating guidebook to our not-so-secret lives.

About the author

Sam Gosling, PhD, is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His work has been featured in the New York Times and Psychology Today, on NPR, Nightline, and Good Morning America, and his research is featured in Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. He is the recipient of the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology. He lives in Austin, Texas.
www.samgosling.com