Thursday, June 14, 2012

Uh-Oh

I got this from The Shoebox Blog...
You can accurately judge a person just by looking at their shoes, psychologists say.

Researchers at the University of Kansas found that people were able to correctly judge a stranger's age, gender, income, political affiliation, emotional and other important personality traits just by looking at the person's shoes.

Lead researcher Omri Gillath found that by examining the style, cost, color of condition of the shoe, participants were able to guess about 90 percent of the of the owner's personal characteristics.

Expensive shoes belonged to high earners, flashy and colorful footwear belonged to extroverts and shoes that were not new but appeared to be spotless belonged to conscientious types.

While some of the clues like the ones already described were obvious, other clues were more surprising.

Practical and functional shoes generally belong to agreeable people, ankle boots fit with more aggressive personalities and uncomfortable looking shoes were worn by calm personalities.
There's more... much more... at the link above.  My take-away... other than the usual "WTF?"... is I'm in trouble.  I wear my six-year-old Topsiders ALL the time, unless I'm dressed up for some sorta function that requires a suit or my Class A blues.  Or riding a mo'sickle, even though I don't do a helluva lot o' riding these days (read as: none).  I'm afraid to think what a beat up pair o' deck shoes... worn without socks, always... sez about me.  OTOH, I don't really give a big rat's ass, either.

24 comments:

  1. LOL, Buck. White tennis shoes sans socks & tennis shorts for me most days. When I want to "dress up" I've got a pair of spiffy black leather & Black mesh w. grey shoelaces "workout" tennis-like shoes and a pair of grey smooth sued leather w. silver-white mesh & hint of red trim, w. a thin flat leather sole--sort of sport shoe/street shoe"tweeners" that look good w. either one-step-up from sweats "jogging slacks" or normal "civilian" slacks which I wear for most "formal" occasions requiring normal slacks short of sports-jacket/suit time (This yrs Derby the first time since 2005 I've worn either, lol)

    (I DO, however, also have a pair of good-looking cordovan tassel-loafers (smooth-toed, not college Bass Weejun-style) for wear w. slacks/suits when required and a pair of stylish-looking brown leather lace-up "comfortable walkers" w. thick cushioned soles that I last wore touring/enjoying NYC in Dec '99 wrapped up in cold wx gear--no more french-toe lace-up French Shriner "Mad-Men" corporate-type shoes for me! LOL)

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    1. Tassel loafers? REALLY? Ossifers... sheesh.

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    2. Hey, my last two pair of tennis shoes were bought at Wal-Mart (New Orleans on Tchoupitoulas) & Costco, (Culver City, Washington St) respectively--does that get me back in good graces? :)

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    3. TWO pairs o' tennies? Sheesh. ;-)

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  2. I read somewhere that what others think of us is none of our business.
    I'm thinking researchers are folks without real jobs.

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    1. Agreed on yer last. As to the former, the only two people whose opinions mattered to me were (a) the wife and (b) the guy writing my performance review.

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  3. BTW - I still have a pair of Navy-issue low quarters in the closet.

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    1. I'll bet they fit, too. ;-)

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    2. I checked. They're pretty dusty but they still have a spit-shine

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    3. If I remember correctly, they cost $6.00.

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    4. My first pair were free. The first one always is.

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  4. Back in my high school days while sitting on a bench during the lunch hour with all the cool cats, I noticed that as other students walked by, we looked them over starting at the feet. Depending on what shoes others wore (or possibly how pretty the legs) determined if you continued up the body to the head. Both guys and girls did this when they looked over people that were walking by. In college I realized that I looked for guys wearing cowboy boots or tennis shoes. Boat shoes did not do well in my book, because they meant frat boy or yuppie - unless of course, the boat shoe boy had nice legs. Then I looked.

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    1. Boat shoes did not do well in my book, because they meant frat boy or yuppie -

      See whut I mean by "uh-oh?" ;-)

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  5. Well, I have exactly three pairs of shoes. Nunn Bush blackies for work (I inherited 4 pairs of them when the father in law died...he never wore them, but went on a spending binge near the end, because they were a "good deal".)

    $12 Walmart tennis shoes ("Starter" brand... for when I'm in jeans).

    And, $4 sandals from Dollar General for any time else.

    Oh...I do have Walmart houseshoes (I think they were $12, but don't quote me on that...could have been less, but I just can't remember right now) for when it gets chilly.

    I guess I MUST agree that you can tell a lot about the financial status of someone by the shoes they wear.

    Honestly, I prefer barefootin'...

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    1. Andy, do yourself a favor and get some good tennis shoes with good support. Toby was a cheap sandal man until he tried on some Crocs. Good shoes are worth the money.

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    2. Lou, Crocs are gay. Sorry...they're just gay.

      I have ZERO problem with foot support. My feet are as flat as a fritter.

      When I was a kid, and Vietnam was in full swing, Mom told me that I would never be drafted because my feet were so flat. I have no idea where she came up with that, but she's my Mama, so I was sure that she was right.

      I wasn't drafted.

      Probably because Vietnam was over before I got to be 18.

      Back in my "running" days, I decided to go the Abebe Bakila route, and ran barefooted. Soles of my foots got as tough as shoe leather, and I finished an 18 mile training run for the Dallas White Rock Marathon sans shoes. I decided to run the Marathon in Nikes. Got a blister on my right great toe about 7 miles in to it, and suffered the whole way after.

      When I finally finished, I ripped that damn shoe off, and people stood around just marveling at the size of that blister...I bit it, and it popped. There was actually great applause from my fellow sufferers.

      Shoes are nuisance to me.

      Just sayin'...

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  6. I don't know what people would think when they look in my closet; I have about 30 pairs of shoes and 90% of them are black. My party shoes - beaded sandals, satin pumps, etc... - are stored in their original boxes on a special shelf. I hardly ever wear the same shoes more than twice per week. But on weekends I live in flip-flops.

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  7. I, too, wear Top-Siders, all the time except for funerals, but they're the white cloth sneaker style, similar to Keds from my youth. I own five pair of 'em, switch 'em out for different things depending upon the weather (if raining, the most beat up and stained pair) and buy 'em in threes or fours once every few years.

    For the funerals, I wear a pair of Florsheim wing tips that I bought for our wedding over twenty years ago. Great pair of shoes, and I intended to never buy another pair of dress shows when I bought those. So far, so good.

    I'll have to go see that site and find out what I am.

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    1. I saved two pairs of Johnston & Murphys (dress shoes) when I retired for good. I thought I'd bought my last pair o' dress shoes in the way-back, but I needed a pair o' plain black dress shoes to wear with my Class A uniform a couple o' years ago. So it was off to Sears for the cheapest I could find. THAT'S the last pair o' dress shoes, ever.

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    2. Also, I am reminded of My Dad, who always wore very good and expensive shoes. He once told me (while we were at a dog track, btw, which presented us with all sorts of empirical evidence) that you can always tell what sort of person a person is by the shoes they wear. I guess he was right.

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    3. My father was the man who turned me on to Johnston & Murphy. They were all he wore, period. I never saw him in tennies or any other casual shoe... except J&M loafers. I DO get the feeling our fathers were quite similar.

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  8. I don't believe they can tell from my shoes. Four active pairs of top siders, X2 need carbon dating. Cheap tennis shoes X3 pairs. Four pairs dress shoes, X2black, X2 brown. One last pair of Corfams for my Tux. There are more Topsiders on the Trawler... One pair very old and one brand new. More than one pair of any daily wear shoe means extra long utility and wear life.

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    1. Reading the link, I think they would think me aLiberal. Heh.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.