SNOOPING FOR CHARACTERS

Creating and developing a character by describing the items surrounding the character is a common method employed by writers. This activity takes this old writer's trick to the next level by taking a quick look at Sam Gosling's book Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You.

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.

Gosling suggests asking the following three questions when looking at the items in a person's space:
1. What are the items?

2. What state are they in?

3. What is their location?

THREE TYPES OF ITEMS
Identity claims: Deliberate statements one makes to the world about who they really are.

Self Regulators: Effect how one thinks and feels. (social snacks)

Behavioral residue: inadvertent traces of our behavior

The easiest personalities to accurately predict when looking at peoples stuff
Leonardo Factor: Creative, imaginative
Robo Cop Factor: Dutiful, think before they act, not impulsive

Tips
Avoid putting emphasis on a single clue (instead focus on stuff as a group)
Avoid items that “grab your attention”

THE FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS
Use the following description of the five major personality types to help create a character through his or her stuff:

• Openness - appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unus]], curiosity, and variety of experience.
• Conscientiousness - a tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement; planned rather than spontaneous behavior.
• Extraversion - energy, positive emotions, surgency, and the tendency to seek stimulation and the company of others.
• Agreeableness - a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others.
• Neuroticism - a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability; sometimes called emotional instability.