Psych Papers

We conducted a survey to learn whether your phone’s background image can act as a “window to the soul.” In other words, whatever is most important to your wellbeing will most likely be your phone background. So if you want to get to know someone, take a look at their phone background.

Questions we answer:

• What are the most common phone backgrounds?
• What do people value most to their well-being?
• Does your phone’s background image predict what you find most important to your wellbeing?

Key Findings:

• The most common phone backgrounds are (1) Family, (2) Nature or landscape, and (3) your partner or significant other.
• Family is most important to people’s wellbeing, followed by their partner, and then focusing on themselves.
• Phone backgrounds are a good predictor of what people value the most

Check out the video version of this episode on YouTube.