![\"Design](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Design-Preferences.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: N Stjerna\/Flickr<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\nWhile it\u2019s pretty much a given that your job or your clothes help to define you as a person, it\u2019s less intuitive to think that your living room chair or even your penchant for scented candles could be just as revealing. But those\u00a0seemingly inconsequential design preferences say a lot more about your personality than you might\u00a0have thought.<\/p>\n
Lindsay Graham, who holds a Ph.D. in personality and social psychology, said that the way we choose to design our homes can reflect who we are and how we want to be perceived by others. In this sense, home decor preferences can have multiple layers of meaning. <\/span> \u201cWhat we know is that literally everything we incorporate into our lives from the kinds of clothes we wear to the kind of music we listen to, even the cities and places where we choose to live, all of that\u2019s been linked to our personalities,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n Graham studies the way we express our identities through our environments at the Center for the Built Environment at the University of California Berkeley. Through her research, she’s explored how this expression extends into our home decor choices.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen we choose a loud pattern, we\u2019re trying to incite something. Maybe we\u2019re trying to say \u2018hey, I\u2019m a fun person, I\u2019m somebody who likes lots of stimulation and to be spontaneous and exciting.\u2019 But it also means you want to just spark that feeling of excitement and that feeling of cheerfulness in your home. So it\u2019s not only who you are, but it\u2019s who you want to be,\u201d she explained.<\/span> Graham said that the introverted\/extroverted binary could be expressed through specific styles or even furniture pieces.<\/span><\/p>\n For example, a reading nook with only one chair could signify an introverted personality that craves solitude. On the other hand, a setting with plenty of comfortable seating areas, mood lighting and candles could belong to a more extroverted person who values social interactions and intimacy with others.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf I value human interaction, I\u2019m going to create a space that invites closeness and comfort. Whereas if I need more solitude or if I value my alone time, then I\u2019m going to design a space that\u2019s reflective of that and I\u2019m going to set the stage for a more solitary life,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n According to Samuel Gosling, Graham\u2019s graduate advisor and the author of Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You<\/a>, every aspect of your home is tied to some element of your identity or persona. Through his research at the University of Texas in Austin, Gosling has identified three major markers of home design psychology: identity claims, thought and feeling regulators and behavioural residue.<\/span><\/p>\n Identity claims are the things we broadcast out into the world to make a certain statement about our personalities. For example, a plaid pillow in your living room could be an identity claim about your background or your cultural values.<\/span><\/p>\n Thought and feeling regulators are items we choose to decorate our space with because of the way they make us think and feel, like a cozy throw blanket or a framed photo of family members. Behavioural residue includes items like books or yoga mats that are in your space because of a certain behaviour you engage in as part of your identity. <\/span><\/p>\n Gosling said that items from these categories can be linked to \u201cthe big five\u201d personality traits, which are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. The three traits that were the most pronounced in his research were extraversion, openness to experience and conscientiousness. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe trait that came through most clearly in our research was the trait known as openness to experience. People who are highly open to experience tend to have distinctive spaces: it\u2019s unconventional, it\u2019s unusual, maybe they’ll have a chair made out of something like an old sewing machine. They also tend to have original art on the walls rather than the same reproductions everyone else has, and they also have a great diversity of books and art and magazines,\u201d he explained.<\/span><\/p>\n So how do people develop these traits? Gosling said it\u2019s mostly genetics, but it can also be attributed to your childhood memories, the values of your parents and they way you were raised.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf someone had been brought up in a very traditional background versus a very open and progressive environment, it will make them less likely to embrace things that are unusual and different and to push boundaries,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\n<\/span><\/p>\n“People who are highly open to experience tend to have distinctive spaces: it\u2019s unconventional, it\u2019s unusual, maybe they’ll have a chair made out of something like an old sewing machine.”<\/h2>\n
![\"Design](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Design-Preferences-2-1024x682.jpg\")
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