By: Emily Warren & Victoria R. Percherke
6 college students’ rooms are photographed and judged by peers at The University of Mary Washington.
Research:
In Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, a book about mental processes that work rapidly and automatically from little to no information, mentions a lot can be said about a person just by scanning their bedroom. There was an experiment where the personalities of 80 college students were judged by strangers as well as closest friends who went into their room for 15 minutes. Psychologist Samuel Gosling found out that the strangers did an extremely great job at describing the personality of someone they never met before.
Gosling also states that someone's bedroom gives three kinds of clues about someone's personality. First is identity claims or how we would like to be seen by the world. Secondly, behavioral residue or clues of our daily behavior that we leave behind. Lastly, our thoughts and feelings or the changes that we make to our space to make us feel a certain way when we are in them.
According to a psychology article, bedrooms and offices are suited for the projections of personality into physical spaces. Visual cues often reflects stereotypes on sex and race, and first impressions that they make to first-comers. Whether it was prepared or not, the person within the room is still making a statement in which how they keep the space on an everyday basis.
In conclusion, viewing a variety of college students’ bedrooms will reflect who they are, cleanliness and what their interests are all based on their decor, how they keep a room and how it is presented to a stranger.
Experiment:
In this experiment, we decided to conduct an interview with 5 of our peers about the common judgments that society can make just from simply observing someone's room. What makes a room more female or male? Or, what about ethnicity? Or even their interests. What do the objects in one's room say about who these people are without even matching a face. After hosting a 30 minute video, Emily and I have come to the conclusion that the way a room is presented can say a lot about who you are as a person, student, friend or even their passions. For example, if you see a guitar, does that mean they actually play and are into music? Or, if one has house plants, does that immediately mean that they are female? From this video, we encourage viewers to make their own judgments along with our peers. See if they are right. You might just be surprised…
Bedroom 1:
Room 1
Room 1
Room 1
Room 1
Room 1: A 20 year old college junior. A Communications major. An online editor for the school newspaper. Singer. Yoga instructor. White female.
Judgements on Room 1:
Bedroom 2:
Room 2
Room 2
Room 2
Room 2
Room 2: A 20 year old college sophomore. A Communications major. Loves to play many instruments including the piano, guitar, violin, amongst others. A devout Christian. Works heavily in AV and volunteers often. White male.
Judgements on Room 2:
Bedroom 3:
Room 3
Room 3
Room 3
Room 3
Room 3
Room 3: A 21 year old college senior. A Communications major. Education program for masters. A member of Alpha Mu Sigma which is a co-ed social and service fraternity. White Female.
Judgements on Room 3:
Bedroom 4:
Room 4
Room 4
Room 4
Room 4
Room 4: A 21 year old college senior. A Psychology major. Education program for masters. Works as a waitress and a hostess at a local sushi restaurant in Fredericksburg. White Female.
Judgements on Room 4:
Bedroom 5:
Room 5
Room 5
Room 5
Room 5: A 21 year old college senior. A Mathematics major with a minor in Cyber Security. A member of UMW varsity women’s swimming and Chi Alpha Sigma. Also a captain of the swim team. Moved from the Phillipians to the US. Asian Female.
Judgements on Room 5:
Bedroom 6:
Room 6
Room 6
Room 6
Room 6: A 21 year old college senior. A Biomedical Science major. A member at the Center for Faith and Leadership. Plays intramural sports. Loves Basketball. Indian Male.
Judgements on Room 6: