A Study of “Snoop”

Identity Claims

We spend hours in our personal space, but there is no obvious functional reason why we should decorate them.

The explanation is that we decorate those that have symbolic values about ourselves. They can be directed towards ourselves or towards others. These are different because they’re the results of two distinct motivations.

My theory would be if the objects are large, at eye level when standing up, they will be directed at others, while smaller objects, close to workplace or bed will be directed to ourselves. And depending on the ratio between these two, we can guess if a person is introvert, not many people go into this room, or extrovert, many people see this room.

Since these stuffs have symbolic value, it is essential to get a hang of surrounding objects for similar meaning before concluding. A poster about car can mean that this person is interested in car, or want to be seen as a cool guy, or it’s something that his pass away day left for him, etc.

Another thing to note is that having a lot of decorations doesn’t mean openness and extrovert. But it is the content of the decorations that we need to pay attention to.

In this pic , the light on the mouse and the rock in the corner virtually have no functions, so they must have symbolic meaning, even the picture on his screen(unless he’s watching a movie, but I suspect not).

Though since it’s a laptop which means it could be brought outside, there’s also a possibility that it’s only used in this room. Consider the meaning, the light on the mouse means he wants to be seen, or he thinks that it’s cool. Cross check with the car image also means cool, we can safely think that this person want to craft that image for himself.

Taking a further step, he doesn’t have a lot of stuff could mean he’s either a simple person or he doesn’t have a lot of money to invest in these. If he’s a simple person, then we need to question about those “cool” objects, were they given to him, leading to indication of other people in his life. If he doesn’t have a lot of money, we need to question if he’s a grown up who doesn’t have a well paying job, or a kid who family members would get this for him, leading to indication about his age and financial range.

And of course, no one would bring a rock back and forth, so this rock is self-directed. There’s also a comment about people using this rock as treatment for ADHD, so this could also be a possibility.

Feeling regulator

A lot of the stuff in our environment doesn’t send message about our identities, but specifically to manage our emotions, helps reminiscing about a good time, feeling.

Human is an emotional being, being able to control emotions of yourself as well as of others often mean you can control them (to a degree). Being able to understand, sympathize and reflect those emotions with them is a good start.

Once again, the necklace on the board, the “plant” and the figures, virtually have no functional values. Instead, they’re symbolic. Its’s safe to say they don’t look like something that would reveals your identities, who you are. So maybe, they have emotional, memories value attached?

Behavior Residues

This is often what people think of as a detective work: being able to tell what someone did based on the appearance of objects surrounding. Residues can be left by an action of doing something or an inaction of not doing something.

If you see a person doing something repeatedly, you can get some insights about their personality.

An interesting place to find evidence residues is trashcan, not to say that you should dig up one’s trash to get to know someone.

The board was hanged by someone, people often hang an objects to their eyesight if it’s not too much of an inconvenience due to the physical aspects or beauty aspects. Added a few inches or centimeters, we have a good estimate of the height the person who hanged this board. However, we can’t assume that it’s the same person who lives in this room even though it’s an easy action that a lot of people can do.

By the writings on the board, we see a mix of Portuguese and English. The English is simple, and the number of Portuguese were more so we can say this person is learning English. We can safely say that the person who lives here wrote it, though there could be a chance of someone else wrote this.

This information can later be confirmed by looking at this person’s computer, and notebook.

From the mouse and the notebook, we can safely deduce this person is right-handed, then why is the headphone on the left of the screen. It could be totally random, preference or the best answer is that this person moved and stood up on the left and put the headphones there.

Again, the best answer doesn’t mean there’s a 100% probability that it’s right, but rather 90%, 80%, etc. depends on your error tolerance.

Got feedback from Damian and it has really opened my eyes into more possibilities.

Damian’s feedback

So first things first, let’s really quickly explain what identity claims are. Identity Claims are exactly what they sound like, things we use to make claims about who we are, they show people (including ourselves) how we want to be percieved. It’s important to note that just because we want to be percieved a certain way, and we try to portray ourselves that way, it doesn’t mean that’s who we trully are as people, it’s also important to note that a key part of something being an identity claim is intent, for something to be an identity claim there has to be some level of intent in its existence. By definition, an identiy claim is just that, a claim, and a claim comes with some understanding of the message you’re trying to get across. Sometimes you don’t realise that you’re trying to get a message across, but you still do so, and you still have that intent, even if it’s on a subconscious level

So keeping in mind that the existence of intent is so important, before we ask ourselves “what is this person trying to claim about themselves?” we must first ask “Is this person trying to claim something with this? is this a message the person wants to transmit?” and the answer can just be no

So going back to the picture, we look at this mouse, let’s ask ourselves, is this person trying to claim something with it, to others or to themselves?

And we answer this question by simply noting the way this mouse is used as an object in this room. The mouse is, at the end of the day, a utility, it’s not on display, it’s not shoved in your face when you enter the room, it’s not on an elevated surface on it’s own, actually the only reason it’s kinda isolated from the rest of the things on the desk is because it needs space to move. So no it doesn’t seem that this person is eager to display this mouse as a claim of who they are to other people, but what about themselves?

This one’s trickier, but again, let’s keep in mind the intent. This person bought this mouse out of, pressumably, a large selection, so yes there was obviously some reason for them to acquire this specific mouse, there was some intent behind its adquisition, but was the intent to showcase some part of themselves? Well, you’re saying the lights and design are flashy and colorful, i ask you, is that why they bought the mouse? how do you know they decided to buy this specific mouse because of the flashy colors? what if this happened to be the one with the best specs? or what if all of the ones he had to choose from had colors, and this one was the one with the least flashy ones? Point is, at the end of the day, tons of gaming mouses have flashy colors, and that doesn’t have to be a deciding factor in buying one, it can just be a coincidence

To be able to treat something as an identity claim you have to know the person is trying to claim something with it, you’re not saying the mouse is an identity claim, you’re saying the lights are, and the lights might just come with the mouse by pure chance. Now, if you were saying that this is a gaming mouse and that’s something this person considers to be a big part of their identity, they see themselves as a gamer, and they like to reinforce that notion, then i would agree with you, their whole desk is a claim of their gaming hobbies and identity, the setup itself is made specifically to be able to play games on that laptop, not to work, not to study, but to play

Now, the rock, that’s a Himalayan Salt Lamp, it’s literally a lamp, it lights up. So, same proceedure, is this person trying to claim something with it, to others or to themselves? Well, maybe, let’s check

What’s the intent behind having this lamp? Illumination? No, there’s clearly another lamp here that does that job, and probably better. An ADHD treatment? maybe, it’s actually possible if that’s something people seem to believe, so we know if there is an intent behind having this lamp it might not be only an emotional one, but we only care about if the intent is an emotional one, to showcase something about who this person thinks they are. Well the lamp isn’t on display, it’s actually quite hidden, so it’s not trying to claim any identity to other people, but maybe to them? well it’s in view of every comfort zone in the room, definitely in view when they’re gaming, so yes there’s a decent chance it’s tied to some aspect of who this person thinks they are. But do realize it’s also possible for the lamp to be a Feeling Regulator, or both an Identity Claim and a Feeling Regulator, so keep that in mind when classifying these things, they’re not mutually exclusive.

Note

Feeling Regulators and Identity Claims are really similar and hard to separate since they both have symbolic values. One key difference is intent. It sounds like Identity Claims tend to have somewhat of an intent behind it, an image that the user stride for.

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Continue with the next chapter of the book, OCEAN 5

The big 5 personalities are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

Openness

People at the high end of the scale enjoy questioning norms and conventions. They like to play with ideas, and they have vivid imaginations.

In contrast, the relatively conventional people at the other end of the scale prefer the concrete to the abstract and the known to the unknown.

Conscientiousness

People who are high on the trait of conscientiousness, plan, they like order. A sense of duty is part of this construct. They tend not to become distracted, not reckless.

They can, however, be regarded as stuffy and boring.

Extraversion

They are talkative, enthusiastic, cheerful, energetic.

This does not mean that they are friendly.

Agreeableness

People at the high end of the scale have generosity, compassion, warmth, kindness.

This does not mean they are pushovers.

People who are low on this trait are frank and blunt, not concerned with protecting others’ feelings.

Neuroticism

Neuroticism refers to people who are easily stressed and find it hard to remain calm in tense situations.

The first few words that we describe someone are often words about traits such as shy, open, hard-working, and less evaluation terms. These words will take us as far as acquaintanceship.

To step up a level, level two would be: Personal Concern. These will provide the contextual details that are missing from traits, such as roles (wife, mother, singer, etc.) ; goal (read more, learn martial arts, etc.) ; skills ( run fast, play guitar, etc. ) ; values ( seeking comfortable or exciting life, etc.).

Getting to know someone doesn’t mean it will bring you closer to that person. Imagine you’re a good detective and you know someone instantly from looking at that person, of course you guys are not close.

This is a set of 36 questions to rapidly take you from level one (acquaintance) to level 2 (personal concerns).

Given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you want as a dinner guest?

Before making a phone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?

What would constitute a perfect day for you?

When did you last sing to yourself or to someone else?

If you were able to live to 90 and return either the mind or body of a 30yrs old, which would you want?

Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

If you could change anything about the way you were raised, would it be?

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?

Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?

What is your most treasured memory?

If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are living now? Why?

What roles do love, and affection play in your life?

Share with others an embarrassing moment in your life?

When did you last cry in front of another person?

What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?

These are questions that look at values and goal. Besides from real life, Omegle, or Tinder would be a great place for this.

Music is consistently a first choice and better topic than any other topic to get to know another.

Identity

The third level is called identity, an inner story of self that integrates the reconstructed past, perceived present and anticipated future.

Identity is a story you tell about yourself to make sense of what has happened in the past and the kind of person you are now.

Identity of a person can change through the course of time, they might still believe in the old identity, but they are tangle up in the current situation and have that new identity represent them more.

Note form the seagull example

Who was responsible for doing something (or fail to do something) that resulted in the gull’s being in this office, in its present location and condition.

What caused the trace,

 what the intention of the person who left the trace were,

what sequence of events led to the trace.

Did the previous occupant leave the gull, was it still hanging there because steph had neglected to take it down. – no the office was well-organized so that sea bird was not left behind.

The gull could be a gift. Did the gift reflect an interest in seabirds – no evidence.

Maybe it refers to her name? – no

It could elicit a fond memoy.

It is an emotion regulator for her work environment, but she wouldn’t claim it, she’d just say: “she likes it”

Seagull is a symbol of Sweden.

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The next chapter talks about people revealing their personalities through their action such as handshakes, jump, dressing style, facial features.

Personally, with my current skill set, I don’t find a ton of values in reading and reflecting these ideas.

Do note that it relates to body language, and it has potentials.

When examining others’ bedrooms, they could craft their environments to project impression appealing to others. Such as socially desire symbol (award for public service), they could fabricate behavior residue (make up bed), they could deceivingly display objects they had no intention of using (guitar). Hiding evidence of less socially sanctioned behaviors = the bondage equipment.

There’s an important distinction between a tidy room and a tidied room. It takes consistent and persistent behavior to have a deeply tidy room.

People have different standards; personality is expressed by how we perceive the world. An anxious person not only fidgets under stress but they see more dangers, threats, and things to worry about than a laid-back counterpart. Same goes for any other trait.

A truly organized person finds it difficult to focus on other tasks when his office is disorganized, but the person who is pretending to be organized would probably not even notice the books on the shelf are out of alphabetical order.

When interpreting clues, according to the probability of being manipulated, there are 3 categories:

Cate 1: Easiest to manipulate – deliberate signals, which is the prime goal of the clues, such as displaying the gay pride rainbow symbol on your bulletin board.

Cate 2: deliberate modification of the environment, no signal is intended such as creating a comfortable space.

Cate 3: hardest to manipulate – inadvertent signals we send, byproduct of our behaviors ( the neglected dying plant on the window sill).

A few snooping tips:

First, look for consistency in the information being transmitted. It could be a clue to a forged impression.

Second, If you know there’s an incentive to appear a certain way, be vigilant.

Personality seeps out even when we don’t want it to.

Fourth, don’t allow your snooping to be directed by the occupant.

Stereotyping is helpful when it comes to new people. Helps set a guideline of what to expect, then compare points through there.

People gravitate to their niches as they gain the social and financial freedom to exercise control over where they live.

Quirk 1: First impression counts

When estimating the product of 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8 vs estimating the product of 8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1, the first one would sound smaller than the latter one. Even though logically, they should be the same.

People would use the first impression to anchor and base their next action, answer according to it. So it’s essential to know what impression you want to give off and also try to stay away from that effect for a better judgement.

Quirk 5: Knowing me, knowing you

It’s is a good start to analyze yourself first, so that you can make sense of a few information and can apply it to other people.

No one can master everything, so when you want to analyze some one from a piece of clue, you need to have some information on it. For example, if you don’t watch TV, and you’re analyzing someone who does, you need to do research to see what program is popular, types of TV.

Linking this to the idea of study local and trend information because they’ll be relevant.