Everyone leaves behind traces of themselves in the
way they choose to furnish their lives. By noticing the details in an office
wall covered with inspirational posters or drawers loaded with filed take-out
menus, observers can learn a lot about strangers. The trick comes in deciphering
what those details mean: Is the picture of a cat on a tree branch the sign of
an agreeable mind, or a neurotic's attempt to surround himself with positive
imagery? Is the organized movie collection part of a lifelong quest for order,
or a recent change for a habitual slob? It's all about context; the things
people choose to reveal and the things that come to light regardless of
intentions are both crucial elements in the work of a dedicated snooper.
Sam Gosling, an associate professor of psychology
at the University of Texas at Austin, has spent years studying the environments
people make for themselves, and the ways their personalities manifest in those
environments. In Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You, he collects his findings
in a breezy how-to for casual investigators. From the ways the five basic
personality traits correlate to music choices to how stereotypes can actually
provide useful (and controversial) guidelines, Gosling has a way of boiling
down complicated concepts without losing their complexity. Anecdote by
anecdote, he builds a case for the importance of interpreting décor spoor,
whether the snooper is looking to fill a staff position or searching for a
potential mate. Along the way, he shows how the most obvious assumptions aren't
always the wrong ones.
Gosling also discusses how people wish to be seen,
and how those wishes fall short in the face of their true personalities. Which
raises an important question, and one that Snoop never really addresses:
Do individuals have a right to choose how the world views them, and if so, what
obligation does a snoop have to respect that right? For Gosling and his
co-workers, the hunt is the important thing, and the issue of privacy is put to
the side with a casualness that seems shortsighted. Still, Snoop is an entertaining read
that achieves precisely what its author sets out to accomplish. By cataloging
the lessons to be learned from self-expression, it changes the way its readers
see the world—or, at least, the next medicine cabinet they pry into.