Snoop log.

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They say you can't judge a book by its cover, and first impressions don't last. But can you tell who a person is by the contents of their bathroom cabinet? Can someone's iPod playlist contain the clues to what type of personality they are? Does a living room's decor send out signals about its inhabitants? According to Sam Gosling, a professor of psychology and author of a new book, 'Snoop: What your stuff says about you', there is a science to figuring out who a person is by critically observing their belongings and the spaces they inhabit. Most people, in a moment of honesty, will admit that they constantly do this; try to size up people by what kind of things they choose to surround themselves with from bookcases to waste baskets.

Having done extensive research on personality differences and how people form impressions of others in daily life, Gosling finds that our personalities seep out in everything that we do - it's a matter of being an expert 'snoopologist' at examining the traces we leave behind. And these observations he says, are more telling about people's personalities than face-to-face meetings or what friends say about them. Describing snoopology as "a special brand of voyeurism", Gosling posits that a snoopologist looks for three basic types of clues to personality in the personal spaces we live in like bedrooms, bathrooms and office desks, which, according to him, are "a unique pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving that is consistent over time." The first clues are grouped as 'identity claims' and consist of posters, photos, trinkets and mementos that make a symbolic statement that is meant to project an image of who we are. These deliberate statements could be religious paraphernalia decorating a home as a sign of someone wanting to outwardly project an image of piety; or a home country's flag to indicate a sense of unflappable patriotism. And these could be what people want others to think of them as opposed to what they're actually like.

The second set of clues is 'feeling regulators' which include music, books, DVDs, family effects and are responsible for helping people mange their emotions and thoughts.

These could range from a living plant that inspires a nurturing aspect in someone to playing music to help them focus. "Music consistently trumps books, clothing, food, memories and television shows in helping people get to know each other better," Gosling writes. All this explains why people consider their music collections a badge of honour and a source of pride. Like Nick Hornby's alter ego Rob Fleming says in the book 'High Fidelity', you can judge a potential mate by their record covers, and according to Gosling, this is a way that people try to figure out their musical compatibility as a litmus test for how well they will get along. And finally, the third type of clues known as 'behaviour residue' which are the physical traces that we leave behind as a result of everyday actions like the contents of our garbage bins, brands of food we eat and home products we use. Generally speaking, it is the 'mess' we leave in our trail as a result of how we live. All this may seem like common sense, but Gosling has made it into a scientific tool that people can use to better understand each other. He based much of his research on the 'Big Five' personality traits that include identifying people on their openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism across different domains.

These domains include private spaces like bedrooms to more public ones like offices as well as virtual ones. Gosling finds that the really good places to learn about people are often overlooked. "Web sites are extraordinarily good places to learn about people - perhaps the best of all places," he says, adding that Facebook profiles in particular are filled with all kinds of clues on who a person really is. But when all's been snooped and done, all this hypothesising and deciphering could easily be avoided by doing the one thing that is a foolproof way of getting to know a person - asking them questions rather than observing them, right? 'Snoop: What your stuff says about you' is available at Magrudy's for dhs113. For more information visit

www.samgosling.com.

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