title: A room with a cue: personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms.
abstract: The authors articulate a model specifying links between (a) individuals and the physical environments they occupy and (b) the environments and observers' impressions of the occupants. Two studies examined the basic phenomena underlying this model: Interobserver consensus, observer accuracy, cue utilization, and cue validity. Observer ratings based purely on offices or bedrooms were compared with self- and peer ratings of occupants and with physical features of the environments. Findings, which varied slightly across contexts and traits, suggest that (a) personal environments elicit similar impressions from independent observers, (b) observer impressions show some accuracy, (c) observers rely on valid cues in the rooms to form impressions of occupants, and (d) sex and race stereotypes partially mediate observer consensus and accuracy. Consensus and accuracy correlations were generally stronger than those found in zero-acquaintance research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 78712, USA. gosling@psy.utexas.edu
authors.forename: Samuel D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Gosling
authors.forename: Sei Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mannarelli
authors.forename: Margaret E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Morris
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003463:Cues; D004777:Environment; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010551:Personality; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping; D014481:United States