I am sure you must have heard people say how a smile can tell all about a person or how the secrets to one’s true self lie in someone’s eyes. Even if you think these claims are bogus, let me tell you, many studies tell us that they are, indeed, not. In fact, a single picture of you and your liking of it can define and expose some of the very core features of your personality.
These days, social media and networking sites are big. And most of us, no matter which generation or age group you belong to, create deeply about the image we create of ourselves over these sites. We want it to reflect how we truly are, or maybe what we want people to perceive us as. Regardless, we tend to put in a lot of thought in the way we shape our online image.
Building off of that, your profile picture on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social networking site says a lot about what you are like as a person. A group of researchers took into account the profiles of over 66,000 Twitter users as well as additional surveys to come up with the five main categories of personality traits that they claim they can group you under based solely on your profile picture. Do you want to find out where you lie? Here they are!
EXTROVERT
We all have a few extroverts in our lives that make it all the more bright and colorful. The same applies to their profile pictures. If your profile picture consists of you posing with a bright smile, surrounded by people, with a colorful background, then chances are that you are an extrovert. The study states that extroverts focus more on the color and brightness of their photo than quality or aesthetic appeal. They also tend to pose with younger people or find ways to make themselves appear younger and lively.
AGREEABLE
Our next group is somewhat similar to the first one in the sense that agreeable people’s profile pictures also tend to be bright, colorful, and cheery. These people focus on social interaction and cohesion and tend to have photos which feature them laughing, smiling, or positively interacting with other individuals. Their pictures do, however, tend to be blurry or badly framed, in the sense that they care little for the appeal of the photograph as compared to the essence of it.
NEUROTIC
People high in neuroticism tend to have bland or colorless pictures which mostly feature an object other than themselves. If they do include their own photo, they may be hiding their faces or displaying more negative emotion, painting a picture of solemn neutrality and blankness.
OPEN MINDED
Openness is generally related to creativity and adventure, which is why these people tend to have the best pictures. They are artistic and may feature something other than their own self. If their picture does feature their face, it tends to take up a good chunk of the frame and displays more negative emotion than positive, meaning they look sad, solemn, or angry. Reading glasses are a prominent feature as well.
CONSCIENTIOUS
These people are just what the name suggests- conscious. They know how they are expected to appear in a picture and tend to display the widest range of natural emotions than any other group. Their pictures tend to contain just one person- themselves- looking proper and professional with a natural smile and order. They tend to be disciplined and like order and planning so everything turns out perfect. They also appear older in their photos.