What Your Photos Say About You

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Posting Pics Online? What Your Photos Say About You By Jeanna Bryner, Senior Writerposted: 09 November 2009 10:45 am ETThose photos you post on Facebook could paint an accurate picture of your personality, new research on first impressions suggests.And perhaps as expected, the more candid a shot the more nuances of your personality show through."In an age dominated by social media where personal photographs are ubiquitous, it becomes important to understand the ways personality is communicated via our appearance," said study researcher Laura Naumann of Sonoma State University. "The appearance one portrays in his or her photographs has important implications for their professional and social life."With this information, there's always the option of tweaking your image, and thus your personality to the outside world. "If you want potential employers or romantic suitors to see you as a warm and friendly individual, you should post pictures where you smile or are standing in a relaxed pose," Naumann said.Scientists have known physical appearance is important for first impressions and that such initial impressions can be hard to undo, particularly negative ones. Studies have shown judgments made at first glance of a CEO can predict his or her success. But until now little was known about how well people judged personality based on appearance and what physical factors are most important.In the new study, 12 observers looked at full-body photos of 123 undergraduate students who they had never met before. Six observers viewed the students in a neutral pose and six saw the same students in a spontaneous pose. The participants rated each photo on 10 personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness (open to experience), likability, self-esteem, loneliness, religiosity and political orientation.To figure out accuracy of the judgments, the researchers compared the results with the posers' self-ratings and ratings from three close friends.For the controlled poses, the observers accurately judged extraversion and self-esteem. When participants looked at the naturally expressive shots, which revealed dynamic non-verbal cues, they were nearly spot-on, getting nine out of the 10 traits correct (everything but political orientation).For instance, both the neutral and expressive photos garnered about a 70 percent success rate."Extraversion is one of those things that's probably the easiest trait to judge," Naumann told LiveScience. "Even without seeing whether someone is smiling or not people can pick that up."But when judging likeability, observers got it right on average for 55 percent of the photos with neutral poses and 64 percent of the expressive photos. Similar results were found for agreeableness, with participants judging correctly 45 percent of the time for neutral poses compared with 60 percent in the expressive images.Beyond pure science, the researchers say the results, which will be detailed in the December issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, have practical implications.For example, if you want to come off as an extravert, try to smile more, stand in energetic and less tense ways, and gear your overall appearance to look healthy (as opposed to sickly), neat and stylish, the study found. For those interested in seeming open to new experiences, it'd be best to show off a distinctive style of dressing rather than a healthy, neat appearance.

and what have you leaned from my photos?

Trying to leave behind the bias of our interaction on this forum, I would say you appear an extrovert. You seem to like to put it out there and shake it around more than just a little. You look stable, steadfast and unyielding yet open to the unfamiliar and willing, should the experience merit it, to update you steadfast notions to an equally unyielding new interpretation. While writing that I'm picturing the picture of you with sitting there with your arm around your lady. The background is dark in the pic.

ANNNNDDDD what have u learned about me:P?

that assessment is a little deeper than I expected. Though it reads a bit like a Chinese horoscope (if you add "should avoid ox and rabbit") :smile:

that photo of us is at a little patio pub at Port Hercule, Monaco

Now that I start to think of it, your one and only photo tends toward a friendly introversion and much more "normal" than I know you to be.

Do me!! Do me!!

(And not in that way, ya dirty fecker.)

i want to play... i want to play...what does mine say about me?????

now Scotty has to do everyone! (but he did me first )to keep it fair, some of us have to do each other to give Scotty a break. He's only human

I shall do you all in due time, as it becomes available... we all know I have nothing better to do.

Going solely by your picture here and again trying to put aside our previous interactions and knowledge, your an extrovert on the fringes. If you were on Bourbon Street you wouldn't be the one flashing your titties but you would be the one talking your girlfriend into doing it. Generally agreeable and friendly but challenging and ready to steam roll someone at a moments notice in your generally stable self-assuredness.

By your facebook profile pic... In a word cocky. An extreme extrovert within your realm or group of friends but most likely not so much in the broader context of mundane societal interactions. In other words all your friends have seen your willy on some drunken camping trip at least once but the relationship you have with the lady you've bought your coffee from every morning for the last five years will never move beyond, maybe, getting to know each others first name. You have an introspective high opinion of yourself which can make you not all that agreeable but your overall stability and likability outweighs your challenging nature.

Your going to be the hardest because I've talked with you more than everybody else here combined. Going solely by the black and white pic of you and Shannon, quiet and cocky. You know you've got it and don't have to, or feel the need to, prove anything to anybody. By your pic, your an introvert because you don't have to be an extrovert to garner the attention of anyone you may wish. Your confidence is only skin deep though and behind that therein lay the greater reason for your introversion. There are certain areas in that you feel "less than" and so the isolation and lack of openness. Your conscientious and agreeable and your likability more than makes up for your tendency to keep most people at arms length.

Now, if I've managed to piss everyone off at least I've done something today and I have no problem admitting I'm full of faults. So, take the shit I wrote in the good nature it was intended and dismiss it for the nothing it is.

Originally Posted By: unsupervisedthat assessment is a little deeper than I expected. Though it reads a bit like a Chinese horoscope Okay hows this, you look like a hard ass jar-head from a distance but your posture and your eyes say, "I'm willing to listen and do what I can." That's what I meant by unyielding but open.

LoL. You sure know how to read peoples pictures!!

I suppose that's an apt description of me. It reminds me of something a close friend once said; "yeah, you look all tough and shit but we all know your a marshmallow on the inside". I thanked her for the word marshmallow lol Jar-head eh? That reminds me, I need a haircut

Originally Posted By: unsupervised...but we all know your a marshmallow on the inside". I thanked her for the word marshmallow lolAll we need to do is add a little heat and we all get to taste your gooey goodness, ehh..?

Based on all this bullshit, I think it means if I want to appear honest and upright, I should stop posting pictures of me in a toga and sandals dressed as jesus swilling beer and smoking.Maybe no pictures of me with my eyes so red they can be seen from outer space, if I were able to open them all the way.Honestly though, I sometimes get death threats over the pictures of me dressed up like jesus, I keep offering to meet these idiots, they never show up.

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Based on all this bullshit, I think it means if I want to appear honest and upright, I should stop posting pictures of me in a toga and sandals dressed as jesus

we all know that the image of Jesus has nothing to do with being honest and upright :p

Originally Posted By: OldFolksAll we need to do is add a little heat and we all get to taste your gooey goodness, ehh..? be careful, it doesn't take much to set me on fire!