For example, the longhorn stuffed animal sitting on my office bookshelf not only reminds me, but also signals to others, that I studied at the University of Texas and that that experience is not only an important part of my history, but also my current identity. Psychologist Sam Gosling explains that we do this in a number of ways ( 4). What this type of work reveals is that we consciously and unconsciously convey important information about our identities through our spaces. Īs a personality psychologist I’ve spent a great deal of time hunting through people’s spaces searching for these clues and decoding what they can tell us about who a person is, and who they aspire to be. As you might imagine, our daily environments (like our homes, offices, Facebook profiles)-places where tons of personal information is captured, created, and stored-provide even bigger clues about who we are as individuals ( 4). For instance, research has shown even something as minute as our email address ( 2) or the screennames ( 3) we generate reflect accurate depictions of the personality traits we possess. Even seemingly small pieces of information provide reliable and accurate insight into our identities. The way we talk, the music, movies, and books we like, the possessions we own, and even the spaces (both virtual and physical) we craft and maintain shed light on not only who we are today, but also who we will likely be in the future ( 1). Every day we leave traces in our wake that provide clues as to who we are.
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