The Cash Trio

Have you ever had that thrill when you’ve gone to someone else’s house and peaked into the bathroom or bedroom, only to see an unexpected picture hanging on the wall? And does that jade your view about your host?

You have probably found yourself inspecting CD collections, checking out bookshelves, and i am guessing, formulating opinions about your hosts as you go. You hadn’t realised that they had the whole Harry Potter collection, or were a closet Cliff Richard fan when you met them. Did you spot their Baumatic kitchen appliance, I wonder what’s in there too.

An industry has been spawned from this urge that we all have, to snoop around other people’s houses, spaces and general stuff. You must have seen the huge array of newspaper and magazine features that give you a through the keyhole look around famous people’s houses.

Behavioural Psychologist Sam Gosling believes that the wastepaper bin is the best guide to what someone is really like. I’m not sure that’s entirely true, for me at least.

According to Sam, our rubbish tells a huge story; from places we travel, the things we eat, letters we received, used receipts, and even the tags off of any new clothes.

Sam Gosling spends his working day sifting through other people’s rubbish. His new book sleep what are your stuff says about you, was based on a lot a primary research on how people feel, a range and generally treated the spaces that they live in. The occupants, were subjected to personality tests; these two sets of data were then combined.

So how can Gosling’s work and research help us in the workplace? One of the key things is to look at photos of colleagues and employers families. Most people have these, but it is the positioning that is important. If the photo is pointing outwards, you are showing off what a happy family man or woman you are. If it is pointing inwards, this shows that you are secure and at the photos are there to make you feel good.