Personality Online

How personal Web sites tell you a lot about a person's curiosity, creativity and friendliness.

By Viviana Mazza published September 1, 2004 - last reviewed on June 9, 2016

What can you learn from a personal Web site? More than if you met the person for a few minutes and about as much as from a glance around their bedroom, according to a University of Texas, Austin study. Subjects who rated the personalities of 89 strangers via personal Web pages most accurately assessed the person's curiosity, creativity and friendliness. Least apparent online: emotional stability.