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Are there any studies on the possibility of visually recognizing someone's personality? When I say "visually recognizing" I mean things like clothes, accessories, body attitude, visible behavior, vehicles driven etc. When I say personality I mean things like Big 5 traits, personal motivations (money, love, attention, etc) and life goals (die rich, have a happy family, have high career, etc).

For instance, I realized that big seller personalities (loves money, loves attention, will lie for any sale, loves to manipulate) would wear (or want) a gold watch. So when you see someone wearing a gold watch there is a high chance the person is a big seller-personality.

In general, I would claim that everyone spends the most money, the most time and the most attention on what is most important to them. But what is the most important owned properties for different personalities?

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    $\begingroup$ There have been experiments that confirmed that people can rate facial expressions on big 5 traits of agreeableness and conscientiousness. $\endgroup$
    – Alex Stone
    Nov 21, 2014 at 1:49

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I am currently reading a book called "Snoop", written by researcher Sam Gosling (I recommend this very interesting book!). He's doing just the kind of research I am looking for, and thus I've found tons of research documents on these things:

Our research focuses on the following issues:

Everyday manifestations of personality – Which cues are reliably linked to what individuals are like?

Everyday person perception – Which cues do individuals use to form their impressions of others?

Consensus – Do observers agree with one another in their impressions of others?

Accuracy – Are observers impressions of others accurate?

Stereotype use – how do stereotypes hinder or promote consensus and accuracy? - http://gosling.psy.utexas.edu/current-research/everyday-manifestations-of-personality/

http://gosling.psy.utexas.edu/publications/

The expression and perception of personality in everyday life

Back, M. D., Stopfer, J. M., Vazire, S., Gaddis, S., Schmukle, S. C., Egloff, B., & Gosling, S. D. (2010). Facebook profiles reflect actual personality not self-idealization. Psychological Science, 21, 372-374.

Carney, D. R., Jost, J. T., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2008). The secret lives of liberals and conservatives: Personality profiles, interaction styles, and the things they leave behind. Political Psychology, 29, 807-840.

Gebauer, J. E., Bleidorn, W., Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., Lamb, M. E., & Potter, J. (in press). Cross-Cultural Variations in Big Five Relations with Religiosity: A Socio-Cultural Motives Perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Gosling, S. D., Augustine, A. A., Vazire, S., Holtzman, N., & Gaddis, S. (2011). Manifestations of personality in Online Social Networks: Self-reported Facebook-related behaviors and observable profile information. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 483-488. [DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0087]

Gosling, S. D., Gaddis, S., & Vazire, S. (2008). First impressions based on the environments we create and inhabit. In N. Ambady, & J. J. Skowronski (Eds.), First Impressions (pp. 334-356). New York: Guilford.

Gosling, S. D., Gifford, R., & McCunn, L. (2013). The selection, creation, and perception of interior spaces: An environmental psychology approach. In G. Brooker & L. Weinthal (Eds.), The Handbook of Interior Design (pp. 278-290). Oxford, UK: Berg.

Gosling, S. D., Ko, S. J., Mannarelli, T., & Morris, M. E. (2002). A Room with a cue: Judgments of personality based on offices and bedrooms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 379-398. [Available in pdf]

Gosling, S. D., Sandy, C. J., & Potter, J. (2010). Personalities of self-identified “dog people” and “cat people.” Anthrozoös, 23, 213-222.

Graham, L. T., & Gosling, S. D. (2012). Impressions of World of Warcraft players’ personalities based on their usernames: Interobserver consensus but no accuracy. Journal of Research in Personality, 46, 599-603.

Graham, L. T., & Gosling, S. D. (2013). Personality profiles associated with different motivations for playing World of Warcraft. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16, 189-193.

Graham, L. T., & Sandy, C. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2011). Manifestations of individual differences in physical and virtual environments. In T. Chamorro-Premuzic, S. von Stumm, & A. Furnham (Eds.), Handbook of Individual Differences (pp. 773-800). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Mehl, M. R., Gosling, S. D., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2006). Personality in its natural habitat: Manifestations and implicit folk theories of personality in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 862-877.

Naumann, L. P., Vazire, S., Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2009). Personality judgments based on physical appearance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1661-1671

Obschonka, M., Schmitt-Rodermund, E., Silbereisen, R. K., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2013). The regional distribution and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom: A socioecological perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 104-122. [DOI: 10.1037/a0032275]

Rentfrow, P. J., Goldberg, L. R., Stillwell, D. J., Kosinski, M., Gosling, S. D., & Levitin, D. J. (2012). The song remains the same: A replication and extension of the MUSIC model. Music Perception, 30,161-185. [DOI: 10.1525/MP.2012.30.2.161]

Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2003). The do re mi’s of everyday life: The structure and personality correlates of music preferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1236-1256. [Available in pdf]

Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2006). Message in a Ballad: The role of music preferences in interpersonal perception. Psychological Science, 17, 236-242. [Available in pdf]

Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2007). The content and validity of music-genre stereotypes among college students. Psychology of Music, 35, 306-326.

Rentfrow, P. J., Gosling, S. D., Jokela, M., Stillwell, D. J., Kosinski, M., & Potter, J. (2013). Divided We Stand: Three Psychological Regions of the United States and their Political, Economic, Social, and Health Correlates. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 996-1012. [DOI: 10.1037/a0034434]

Rentfrow, P. J., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2008). A theory of the emergence, persistence, and expression of geographic variation in psychological characteristics. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 339-369.

Sandy, C. J., Gosling, S. D., & Durant, J. (2013). Predicting Consumer Behavior and Media Preferences: The Comparative Validity of Personality Traits and Demographic Variables. Psychology and Marketing, 30, 937-949. [DOI: 10.1002/mar.20657]

Swann, W. B., Jr., Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2003). The precarious couple effect: Verbally inhibited men + critical, disinhibited women = bad chemistry. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1095-1106. [Available in pdf]

Vazire, S., Naumann, L. P., Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2009). Smiling reflects different emotions in men and women. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 403-405.

Vazire, S., Naumann, L. P., Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2008). Portrait of a narcissist: Manifestations of narcissism in physical appearance. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1439-1447.

Vazire, S. & Gosling, S. D. (2004). e-perceptions: Personality impressions based on personal websites. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 123-132. [Available in pdf]

Wilson, R. E., Gosling, S. D., & Graham, L. T. (2012). A review of Facebook research in the social sciences. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 203-220. [DOI 10.1177/1745691612442904]

Anderson, C. P., Ames, D. R., & Gosling, S. D. (2008) Punishing hubris: The perils of status self-enhancement in teams and organizations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 90-101.

Erdle, S., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2009). Does self-esteem account for the higher-order factors of the Big Five? Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 921-922.

Gosling, S. D., Sandy, C. J., & Potter, J. (2010). Personalities of self-identified “dog people” and “cat people.” Anthrozoös, 23, 213-222.

Gosling, S. D., & Srivastava, S. (2011). Changes in perceptions of George W. Bush’s personality in the wake of the September 11 2001 World Trade Center attacks. Acta de Investigación Psicológica, 3, 486-490.

Jost, J. T., Hawkins, C. B., Nosek, B. A., Hennes, E. P., Stern, C., Gosling, S. D., & Graham, J. (2014). Belief in a Just God (and a Just Society): A System Justification Perspective on Religious Ideology. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 34, 56-81. [Translated to: Jost, J. T., Hawkins, C. B., Nosek, B. A., Hennes, E. P., Stern, C., Gosling, S. D., & Graham, J. (in press). Creencia en un dios justo: La Religión como una forma de Justificación del Sistema. Psicologia Politica, 47, 55-89.]

Mathieu, M. T., & Gosling, S. D. (2012). The accuracy or inaccuracy of affective forecasts depends on how the question is framed: A meta-analysis of past studies. Psychological Science, 23, 161-162. [DOI: 10.1177/0956797611427044]

Pennebaker, J. W., Gosling, S. D., & Ferrell, J. (2013). Daily online testing in large classes: Boosting college performance while reducing achievement gaps. PLOS ONE, 9, e79774. [doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079774]

Ramírez-Esparza, N., Gosling, S. D., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2008). Paradox lost: Unraveling the puzzle of Simpatia. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39, 685-702.

Robins, R. W., Tracy, J. L., Trzesniewski, K. H., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2001). Personality correlates of self-esteem. Journal of Research in Personality, 35, 463-482. [Available in pdf]

Vazire, S., Naumann, L. P., Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2009). Smiling reflects different emotions in men and women. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 403-405.

Wood, D., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2007). Normality evaluations and their relation to personality traits and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 861-879.

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  • $\begingroup$ I am reading the book "Snoop" now based on your mention of it. Great stuff. I never really understood the OCEAN trait system before. $\endgroup$
    – user9634
    Oct 3, 2016 at 18:43

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