You know better than to judge a book by its cover. Sizing up a person by his or her shoes, however, might at times be justified. A new study found that people deduce certain characteristics of strangers with better-than-chance accuracy based solely on their footwear. One group of study participants completed a personality survey and provided pictures of the shoes they wear most frequently. A second group then viewed the pictures and rated the shoes' owners on various characteristics. Their guesses were accurate regarding age, gender, income and attachment anxiety. For instance, the volunteers perceived correctly that shoes with visible brand names most often belonged to men and stylish shoes to women with high incomes. They also figured out that people who provided pictures of the shoes on their own feet were more emotionally stable. The findings were published in the August Journal of Research in Personality.

But take heed: “Some shoe characteristics did correlate with the shoe owners' personality traits and personal characteristics, but observers picked up only on about half of these cues,” says Angela Bahns, assistant professor of psychology at Wellesley College and one of the study authors. Shoes may help form a first impression, but avoid assuming too much—you might end up shooting yourself in the foot.

This article was originally published with the title Show Me Your Shoes.

6 Comments

1. 1. sjfone 08:41 AM 12/11/12

   Men, first rule- A woman can never have too many pairs of shoes.

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2. 2. just wondering in reply to sjfone 09:58 AM 12/11/12

   It's only common sense, isn't it? :)

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3. 3. rdekleer 07:00 PM 12/11/12

   Women, second rule - Men don't prefer women with shoe fetishes.

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4. 4. jgrosay 04:25 PM 12/12/12

   I'd like adding some factoids to the discussion: people that wear shoes with metal pieces may be aggressive, a piece of metal is like a knife to attack you, or like a horseshoe to walk over you. If dealing with leather shoes, those who have it polished, clean and shiny on a daily basis may show a higher degree of sexual interest. Flowers, ribbons and things like may also be a more intense signal of interest in having sex, not just in mating as polished shoes may point to. Is it or is it not true?

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5. 5. sunnystrobe 07:42 AM 12/13/12

   Charlie Chaplin is said to have slipped into a fellow actor's boots - and the rest is history; but can we psycho-analyze him on the grounds of his borrowed footwear I wonder..
   anyhow, I am rather puzzled why the Scientific American -of all journals-
   is undergoing a bout of shoe fetishism!

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6. 6. bucketofsquid 06:13 PM 12/17/12

   Since there is a direct causation between ankle, leg, joint and back problems and the height and narrowness of high heels, I find them to be an indication of stupidity.
   
   I wear dress shoes for church, slip-ons for work, track shoes for working out and steel toed work boots for yard or home repair work. According to this article I'm not agreable, avoid attachments and then something else at work.
   
   Perhaps they should define criteria a little better. Maybe have them provide pictures of the shoes they prefer to wear. For me that would be the not agreeable boots which would shock the hell out of everyone that knows me. Maybe I'm subconsciously disagreeable? Perhaps it is that I prefer the ankle support and reliable grip from treads.

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