Bailey-Cooper Photography/alamy
Your E-Mail Address is Blabbing On You
Before you give a co-worker or client your personal e-mail address, better take a hard look at those 30-or-so characters. A study by the University of Leipzig suggests your e-mail moniker can give others a distinct—and often accurate—impression of you. Psychology researcher Mitja Back got the e-mail addresses (many of them whimsical, some in English and some in German) of about 600 young people, each of whom also answered questions designed to identify personality traits—narcissism or conscientiousness, for instance. The addresses were then distributed among 100 other people, each of whom filled out the questionnaire as they thought the e-mails’ owners would. The profiles that emerged almost always matched the users’ self-assessment. (One exception: extroversion, which was often “misdiagnosed.”) While it’s not tough to surmise that “thefascinatingking” is a narcissist, Back says, even generic handles reveal something. To play it close to the vest, stick with the work address.
