Openness Is Easier to Spot That Agreeableness Room with a Cue: Personality Judgments Based on Offices and Bedrooms," is an article that discusses how an individual's personality can be depicted by the environment they create which surrounds them. New research completed by psychologist Samuel Gosling, Ph.D., at the University of Texas along with his colleagues shows that personal spaces such as bedrooms and offices are an incredibly rich source of information about people's personalities. The authors of the article base this information upon two studies that examined the basic phenomena underlying concepts to determine this to include: interobserver consensus, observer accuracy, cue utilization, and cue validity. Ratings were based and compared on offices and bedrooms.

Steinbeck's observation is made from an idea that much information can be learned about people and the spaces that they inhabit. By observing a room and the items found within, such as laundry receipts, an unfinished letter in the trash basket, or an empty bottle of bourbon, the author pieced together a portrait of Lonesome Harry. People create environments they inhabit to reflect vital information concerning their personality, values and lifestyle.

Gosling conducted two studies where people were asked to rate other peoples personalities. They were asked to use the standard "Big Five" traits of openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and emotional stability. This was to be completed...

After that task, the ratings were then compared to see how accurate their assessments seemed when compared to self- and peer-ratings of the office and bedroom inhabitants.
Gosling noted that those participating in the study that eight of the people in the study agreed among themselves.

He also found that they were fairly accurate in their evaluations for some of the traits. Previous studies have found people could accurately assess extroversion and agreeableness by viewing pictures and videos but had a harder time assessing conscientiousness and openness, Gosling found the opposite is true for viewing people's personal environments.

The study noted that many people spend valuable time within their personal living and working spaces. Thus, they often decorate these places with colors, patterns, motifs, and decor that fit their personal taste and aesthetic. People want to claim their space and tend to make it their own territory. To accomplish this, people make self-directed identity claims or symbolic statements to reinforce their self-views. Many of these statements make use of cultural symbols such as posters, collections, and other artifacts.

These symbolic statements reflect how someone wants to be perceived individually or by others. When displaying the symbols, the occupants are communicating their attitudes and values to others. These visual statements may be…