You Are What You Keep

With and interest in the things people collect, hold on to, surround themselves with- the phrase "you are what you keep" kept coming to mind. So naturally, I googled it.  And I came across this:

http://www.newsweek.com/2008/06/22/you-are-what-you-keep.html

In this Newsweek article Jennie Yabroff discusses the work of psychologist Sam Gosling and his book: Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You. 

"A psychology professor who spends his days poking around in other people's bedrooms, offices, and medicine cabinets, Gosling believes that our artifacts--our books, music, photos, posters, and, yes, even our bottle caps--serve as nonverbal cues to the rest of the world as to who we are and what we value."

I love the choice of the work "artifact" - it really captures my own interest in looking at people's belongings.  They tell a story of history as well as comprise a present personality. Gosling says his main interest is personality differences.  I think I'll have to check out Snoop for myself.