How to Snoop: A book review

For Social/personality Psychology, I read a book called SNOOP: What your stuff says about you by Dr. Sam Gosling. I have a group presentation on it on Monday, but that is muchly beside the point.

Here's what I learned: snooping is hard. That is, creeping on people's stuff and living spaces and making inferences about their personality based on your findings is easier read than done.

The most obvious person to snoop on is my fabulous roommate, Jessi. But even that has left me stumped. Maybe it would be easier with someone I don't know, to go into their room and say, "This person is probably like this" before I ever meet them. Theoretically (although it was not written at all to be a self-help book), SNOOP can help me make judgments about people: prospective boyfriends, friends, coworkers, whatever. But I can't even figure out myself that well based on what I read.

I'm supposed to, specifically, use my findings to determine the personality traits included in the OCEAN Big Five: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraverted, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

Here's how I rank (roughly) based on my snooping on myself:
I rank just a little above-average on openness.
I rank pretty highly on conscientiousness.
No evidence based on my belongings whether or not I rank highly in extraversion (although I already know that I rank pretty low).
Also no evidence on whether or not I rank highly in agreeableness (although I think I am a little below-average).
I am above average on neuroticism.

Here's why:

Openness is determined by weirdness of stuff (my words, not Dr. Gosling's.), as well as craft supplies and variety of books. I think decorations also might have something to do with it.

I have a few weird things, like a glass bottle of bassoon reeds and a rug made out of cut-up t-shirts. I would also have a vase with my dreads sticking out of it if it didn't gross/weird out my roommate. I don't have a huge variety of books, though. I have craft supplies (mostly paper) that I don't use a whole lot, because although I'm not crafty, sometimes I like to pretend I am. And I always like to have my space decorated, of course.

Conscientiousness is determined by maintained organization and a sense of everything having "its place."

I may not be a minimalist by any means, but everything certainly has a place, of course. I am very particular about the way I fold my underwear (and was practically flabbergasted last year when I found out that my roommate, Amy, doesn't fold hers at all!). Dirty clothes go in the basket on the right side of my closet, and worn-but-not-dirty-enough-to-be-washed-yet go in a pile in front of my closet. (Like I said, not obviously organized, but if someone messed with this system, I would be pretty upset.) I maintain an alphabetized system of organizing my DVDs. In fact, the only thing in my room that I can think of that doesn't have a system or rightful place is my desk drawer, which is more or less "miscellaneous" junk anyway.

Neuroticism is only determined (in living spaces) by motivational posters. Which I have a few of, in the form of Bible verses. That's just great.

Well, anyway. I feel like I've talked about myself too much, but isn't that what people with blogs are supposed to do on their blogs?

Basically, the book was very interesting, and very unhelpful. I recommend it.

UPDATE: So I was a little off on some of my personality traits according to the online test I took at outofservice.com/bigfive. I'm in the 2nd percentile for openness ("You prefer traditional and familiar experiences"), the 58th percentile for conscientiousness ("You are neither organized nor disorganized"), the 9th percentile for extraversion (nailed it on that one) ("You probably enjoy spending quiet time alone"), the 32nd percentile for agreeableness ("You find it easy to express irritation with others"--ha! True.), and the 22nd percentile for neuroticism ("You are generally relaxed").


God bless.

My Favorite Band

On Tuesday, May 14th, 2013, I saw my all-time favorite band, Relient K, in concert for the second time. It was a total blast and my shameless love and devotion for them was at an all-time high. I was beyond thrilled to meet the lead singer, Matt Thiessen, and I awaited with great anticipation the release of their new album later in the summer.

When people ask me why I love Relient K so much, I have many (in my opinion) solid answers to give them:
1. They are Christian, but are not all into corny contemporary stuff. They usually keep their message subtle.
2. Brilliant/funny/clever/poetic lyrics
3. Matt Thiessen's voice is right in my range, making it easy for me to sing along to every single song.
4. Their style has grown and developed right alongside my taste in music. When I was in middle and high school and all into rock, that's what they played. When I got a bit older and got an appreciation for a more folksy, acoustic style, they started leaning that way too.
5. They have a large output of music, so it's hard to get tired of them.

Here's the kickoff

Hope you're not sick of

Relient K

Or all the songs we play

'Cause then you'll wanna throw our CD away

Then the story got grim.

The upbeat, pop-y leaning of their newest album, Collapsible Lung, was fun and well-crafted, I believed, but eventually I had to listen to the lyrics.

It has been argued, I have heard, that the foul topics they covered (such as one-night stands and controlling relationships) were actually a form of satire; that somehow they were saying something deeper. A commentary on a broken world, perhaps? I'm not so sure.

I heard a rumor (but have not looked into it) that Relient K allowed outside sources to assist with the writing for this album. Whether or not the lyrics are of the band itself, I still see no reason why this should have happened. 

What happened to their innocence (My Seventeen Magazine tells me that you're in love)? 

Their humility and heart-wrenching honesty toward God (Life could you be a little softer to me? Life could you be more gentle to me? Yeah, I know. This is a selfish plea, because Christ has sacrificed himself on the cross for me. But this world is hard, it's cruel and I wish it would be softer, softer, softer, softer to me.)? 

What happened to their humor and story-telling (The quarterback asked me if I'd like a beating. I said that's one thing I won't be needing.)? 

Their positive views of women (She's like an ancient artifact, something you're lucky to have found. She'll pinch the nerves in all the necks when she turns those heads around.)?

Now, instead, I'm seeing bad poetry that seems to say nothing of substance (at least to me) (To take a breath and then take it in, to think of places I’ll go, I haven’t been, to pour my heart into everything I've found. Time won’t slow down.)

I hear once-high moral standards being lowered (If I could take you home, I'll be all that you need.),

...less respect for women (Baby, you look so sexy, so what do I do when we get home from church and the baby is in her room sleeping? or watching a movie... you get closer to me. Oh this has disaster written all over it),

...and eight songs about bad or broken relationships. Eight. (Boomerang, Lost Boy (debatable), If I Could Take You Home, Gloria, PTL, Disaster, When You Were My Baby, and Sweeter.) This, by the way, leaves only four songs on other topics.


Well, anyway. I don't need to bash the entire album, I guess. I mean, it sounds pretty good. But I have come to an almost devastating conclusion:

Relient K may not be my favorite band anymore.

I should have seen it coming. I knew I was pulling away from the rock scene, and have been for a while. I have been growing desensitized to the wonderfulness of their music because I have listened to all of it for years. I was looking forward to the new album so very much because I was thirsty for something new from them, only to found that it fell very short of my expectations.

I understand that you are probably disappointed in me and I accept your criticism. I deserve it; I am unfaithful. But this change needs to happen.


Of course, this leaves a void in my life: who will be my new favorite music artist? (For those of you reading this who are still in shock that my undying devotion to RK is probably coming to an end, you may want to stop reading. I don't want to rub salt in any wounds.)

I have given it a lot of thought, and I tentatively want to say Josh Garrels. This is, of course, subject to change. But I find myself wanting to listen to him all the time. Although upholding a pretty folksy sound most of the time, he is clearly not afraid to experiment with other techniques. He doesn't just stick to acoustics, but ventures into electronic sounds. He doesn't just sing with that beautifully strong, raw voice he has; sometimes he raps. It's fun. He's also a Christian who lets his beliefs permeate his music, but doesn't actually let the music suffer because of it. That is to say, he doesn't write his music to fit into someone's contemporary church service singalong. I still have to listen to more of this guy's music and familiarize myself with it before I say anything definitively. After all, it's embarrassing to say someone is your favorite artist and then not know their lyrics.


Please forgive me, Relient K fans. I still love them. I will certainly still listen to their music. But I will probably wait to read the reviews before I buy their next album.


UPDATE: I got a lot of positive feedback from this post, a word of advice that I don't really need to have a favorite band, and a quote (via facebook) from my friend, Jon, of a review he read of Collapsible Lung. The quote is worth sharing: "All the other songs on the new album were actually MEANT to sound empty and shallow. They're 'the miles of open road,' when Matt Theissan's fiance left him and he 'lost sight of what might matter the most' and 'stumbled into the great unknown.' The first ten tracks display where he began to look for comfort rather than to God. The last song, Collapsible Lung, is Matt's plea to the Holy Ghost, from whom he 'hopes he hasn't heard the last words.'" My response to Jon's defense was this: "Interesting. Like I said in the [blog post], I have heard a similar argument in favor of the album. If that is indeed the case, however, I still must argue that I disagree with their manifestation of such a message because it would be/has been lost on so many people. Very few people are going to get out of it what it was meant to convey. Their message is buried too deeply, in my opinion. Subtly is great and all, but not to the point where it can't be interpreted by the average listener, or even someone like me. That's not how people get reached." Just thought that was worth sharing.

UPDATE: Finally found the blog that Jon quoted. Definitely worth the read. http://stephenshutters.com/post/54525347408/collapsiblelungreview


God bless.