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shopping

How your shoes can predict your personality

They say that “shoes make the man”.

Women often say that the first thing they notice about a potential date is their shoes.

Men often pay attention to women who wear FMPs.

Yes, shoes are an integral part of who we are, and what defines us.

Pete the Cat
Pete the Cat

That’s the premise behind the study entitled SHOES AS A SOURCE OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS, published by the University of Kansas and Wellesley College.

In the study, participants had to look at photos of shoes and then pass judgement about the shoes’ owners.  The participants’ answers were then cross-references with answers provided by the shoe owners to see how close of a match that first impression had on the participant.

The areas being judged were:

  • gender
  • age
  • social status
  • an assortment of different personality traits

What the study determined is that those who wore expensive shoes were identified as earning a high salary.  Clean shoes were equated to those who were conscientious.   In both cases, these wouldn’t be totally off-the-wall guesses.  Participants were quickly able to guess gender, age, and income relatively easily — and suprisingly, emotional stability and agreeableness.

Generally speaking, participants were able to guess personality traits correctly about 90% of the time.

So if you’re thinking about making that great first impression, try starting with the shoes and working your way up from there.