SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

At the University of Texas

What can we learn about individuals from the spaces in which they live and work? It would seem that the environments that people craft around themselves are rich with information about their personalities, values, and lifestyles. Social psychological theories have long suggested that individuals select and create their social environments (e.g., friendships, social activities) to match and reinforce their dispositions, preferences, attitudes, and self-views (e.g., extraverts choose friends, colleagues, and relationship partners who enable them to express their extraverted nature). Work by Sam Gosling suggests that individuals also select and craft physical environments that reflect and reinforce who they are. Furthermore, Gosling's studies suggest that observers use the information available in everyday environments to form impressions of what the occupants of those environments are like.

Gosling and his students are involved in several projects examining how personality is manifested in physical spaces such as bedrooms and offices, and in terms of music preferences, food preferences, and the design of personal webpages.

It is also possible to think of language use as a form of behavioral residue. Jamie Pennebaker and his students have been exploring how we can use the authors' words in poetry, novels, and plays written recently or even centuries ago to get insight into their personalities, emotions, and world views. Just as a messy room may be a sign of creativity, not worying about speling may too.