Your Facebook Photo Says More Than You Think, Research Says

by Amar Toor on November 11, 2009 at 04:50 PM

A photo is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, but your Facebook photo might be worth more. It is, after all, available to the entire world. Let's face it; we're all vain to varying degrees, and have some sort of self-image that we're constantly trying to project online. A newly released study aims to determine just what it means to project our avatar through the lens of social networking sites.

Researchers from Sonoma State University recently found that images can pretty reliably convey some, though not all, personality traits. In the study, 12 random people looked at photos of 123 undergraduate students in different poses -- both
"neutral" and "spontaneous." (The "neutral" poses were dictated by researchers, while the "spontaneous" poses were self-directed.) The subjects were then asked to rank the photos according to 10 traits: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness, likability, self-esteem, loneliness, religiosity, and political orientation. In order to judge the accuracy of the subjects' appraisals, scientists compared them to the self-evaluations submitted by the photographed students.

For both the control group (the neutral photos), as well as the group of spontaneous photos, subjects accurately evaluated both extroversion and self-esteem. When looking at just the spontaneous, expressive photos, though, subjects interpreted strategic, non-verbal clues to accurately perceive nine out of 10 traits (political orientation being the only elusive characteristic). Extroversion was the easiest for people to predict across both groups, but other characteristics showed differing success rates, with those observing the spontaneous photos being slightly more accurate.

Researchers claim the results are significant not only in a scientific context, but in practice, as well -- especially for those looking to manicure their online identities. But honestly, this doesn't seem like anything profoundly innovative. Isn't it common sense to think that people would be able to infer more about you from an emotive photo? Isn't that kind of the point of Facebook? [From: LiveScience]

Next >> 'Facebook 101: 25 Tips and Tricks'

Tags: facebook, identity, pictures, profile, research, socialnetworking, top

Comments

wl paradiseNov 14th 2009 2:33PM

Highly Ranked

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limarNov 14th 2009 7:42PM

Neutral

If I saw that pic and was able to contact her, I'd jump at the chance. She would be my kind of girl. I have done that sort of thing and I think she'd be someone I could identify with and have a lot of fun with. Silliness is contagious and a person that isn't afraid to be silly usually has a good heart, is loving and lovable, and would be, if not a lover, just a darn good friend to have. A heart of gold is usually lurking beneath that self-effacing behavior.

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