Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You [Paperback]

Sam Gosling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2009

Do the things on your desk betray the thoughts on your mind? Does your dining room décor carry clues to your character? Award-winning psychologist Sam Gosling has dispatched teams of scientific investigators to poke around bedrooms and offices, check out iPods, and peek at personal websites—to see what can be learned about us simply from looking at our belongings. What he has discovered is intriguing: When it comes to the most essential components of our personality—from friendliness and flexibility to openness and originality—the things we own and the way we arrange them can say more about who we are than even our most intimate conversations.

Packed with original research and a wealth of fascinating stories, Snoop is a captivating guide to our not-so-secret selves, and reveals how intensely connected we are to the places in which we live and work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Gosling's work, reminiscent of Martha Stout's "The Sociopath Next Door" in its vivid, true-to-life portraits of people and places, is a unique blend of scholarly research and accessible vignettes. Expect future books from this young scholar, whose storytelling skills prove he's capable of bridging the gap between ivory-tower dwellers and street denizens."-"Library Journal," starred review

"Gosling, a psychology professor, shows us how the bits and pieces of our everyday lives can reveal more than we ever imagined. Did you know that the stuff you keep on your desk can tell a shrewd observer not just your likes and dislikes, but also your political leanings, your sexual interests, your fears, even your secret self-image (as opposed to the version of yourself you present to the world)?"-"Booklist"

"The basic premise behind "Snoop" is that you can tell an awful lot about a person based on their apartment; their work space; their favorite music; their style of dress - even their trash. (Gosling approvingly quotes Ward Harrison, a professional scavenger who made a career rummaging through the trash of celebs, who once said, "Garbage is a window into the soul.") This thesis puts "Snoop" firmly in "Blink" or "Freakonomics" territory."-"New York Post"

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Trade Paper Edition edition (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465013821
• ISBN-13: 978-0465013821
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 90 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but a few flaws June 26, 2008

By Charlie

Format:Hardcover

About: University of Texas at Austin psychology professor Gosling fancies himself a "snoopologist" and studies how people's belongings exhibit their personalities. While he believes belongings give clues to personality, he notes that it does not work for all folks in all situations. Personality is defined as "An individual's unique pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that is consistent over time." (pg 28). Gosling uses the Big 5 personality traits (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) to further break down the personalities he describes in the book and spends quite a bit of time going over the basics of these 5 traits.... He discusses many studies of how certain behaviors and owned objects of humans fit these personality traits, and even analyzes the office of ABC News anchor Charles Gibson

Things I Thought Were Interesting:

* Only in extreme cases can you learn much from a person's refrigerator

* Formal dress tends to be a good indicator of conscientiousness

* People can match strangers to their cars better than chance

* Bedrooms, Facebook profiles and personal web sites tend to give reliable info on
personality

* Bedrooms of liberals tend to have a larger variety of books, music and art supplies, while conservatives have more flags, alcohol bottles and sports paraphernalia

* Male bedrooms have fewer photos of families and friends, closets that tend to be open with stuff on hooks and more hats and caps than female bedrooms

* In a job interview, dress and amount the applicant leans forward tends to give clues to job motivation

* A more personalized office means a higher commitment to the organization

* Maps in a space points to diverese interests and open-mindedness

Pros: Clear writing, sources cited (but not in-text), interesting "tidbits" of info found throughout

Cons: Parts read like a primer on social psychology and personality, which leaves too little room for talk about people's "stuff" and makes the book seem to be more about what humans do than what they own. People whose work he cites gave him blurbs for the book (tit for tat perhaps?) Read more ›

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Droll, thought-provoking psychological exercise November 11, 2008

By Dean Backus

Format:Hardcover

Sam Gosling's book is an anti-materialist's nightmare--or is it? In a time when many are advocating that we "purge" our possessions and live "simpler" lives, "Snoop" is an amusing, clever, and occasionally unnerving brain teaser. It posits that we are, in fact, our stuff, and everything we wear, hang, collect, listen to, display, etc. says something revealing about us. (Even the way people arrange pictures in an office--facing a guest so as to impress, or facing the owner to provide reassurance/emotional nurturance--is significant.) Occasionally the book gets fairly scientific when measuring various psychological qualities (Neuroticism, Openness, etc.), but it's nothing that will throw anyone who's ever taken a Meyers-Briggs test. Gosling also analyzes "hoarders" and "emotional narcissists" who never throw anything away, and his conclusions are thought-provoking. And the charts analyzing different music listeners (gospel, rap, rock, etc.), and folks' stereotypes about these people based on their music choices, are real eye-openers. If anything, the book is too short; another chapter or two would've been pure gravy, especially if it dealt with the current trend of disposability, or "renting" rather than owning (as in people who only take CD's or DVD's out from the library rather than buying them). Some may also find the tone a bit facile, though I thought it was funny and clever (especially a chapter entitled "Knowing Me Knowing You" with several pointed ABBA jokes). Still, after I read this book, I couldn't walk into any room in my home without casting a critical eye at the art, the knick-knacks, the books, etc. It's the sort of book that may genuinely change the way you see yourself, as well as the world around you.

57 of 63 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Mildly interesting - geared to a young audience July 8, 2008

By M. H. Edelmuth

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I enjoy pop psychology books but I found this book a little tedious and droning at times. Some thoughts were interesting, such as identifiers being geared to influence the opinion of others versus to reassure yourself, but because the test subjects were nearly all college students I, as a person over 40, didn't find much of interest for the world that I inhabit. The author did not acknowledge that college students and that time in a person's life is unlike the bulk of an average person's existence. College and young adulthood is a time of trying out new identities, supporting causes, and learning about new social ideals, and few demands made on your time by children, aging parents, and spouses. So while it's interesting to hear about how young adults decorate their dorm rooms and how that reflects their personality it would be more interesting (to me) to visit people out of the academic milieu and learn how to make educated guesses about their personalities.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Full disclosure and the importance of Snoop June 21, 2008

By Truehomeguy

Format:Hardcover

I run an architecture firm and know of Sam Gosling's work. My wife posted above immediately after she finished reading Snoop, and reviewed this book without disclosing that a process we use with our clients called the Truehome Workshop is discussed in the last chapter of this book.

She was not attempting to be deceptive. She simply did not believe her tenuous connection impacted the relevance of her review. In any case, we apologize for any misunderstanding.

Because I do know this man's research, I am here to tell you that in real world situations, understanding both how your personality and values impact your decisions about your home - and separating "trash from treasures" - make a big difference when it comes time to making decisions about changing your living space.

I mean a big difference in time, money and how you feel about your new living space when you have completed your project.

People tend to think of such issues as "fluffy" but in truth they are central to creating a home that fits. After all "home" is really an emotional experience.

You "feel" at home.

A house is made of bricks and sticks, tile selections and floor coverings, but not a home. The difference between a house and a home is created by how much your living space fits your lifestyle, tastes, values, budget, emotional needs and personality.

So we are talking about emotional assessments cued by features of your home environment like comfort, self-expression, a feeling of safety, privacy, control, lower stress levels and the like. Real world experiences!...

Almost all of those "feeling of home" are a result of your automatic emotional response to features of your living space that are unconscious, often from childhood, and most of us are not aware of how much they influence important financial and aesthetic decisions.

Our clients almost always lack an understanding of the impact of these deep emotional and psychological influences on their decisions. That is why we spend a lot of time learning about them - and helping them become aware of them - BEFORE we begin a design.

The more you know about who you are relative to your living space, the better job you can do of making choices that will have lasting value.

That is the deeper level of what this book has to offer while it trains you to be a "Snoopologist." Read more ›