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David Sloan
Do your Christmas lights match your personality?
Do your Christmas lights match your personality?

Garishly over- Santa Claus-ed yards, lit up like twinkling Klieg lights, invariably raise the question: What kind of Christmas nut inhabits that house? For that matter, what does any holiday lawn decor -- be it simple, extravagant or light-free -- say about the mind of the decorator who dwells inside? Psychologists considering such lofty questions toss about terms like "naturalistic expressions of social quality" and "behavioral residue." But at its core, any scientific examination of why we dangle flickering diodes from our eves this time of year gets down to basic human nature. "We're sort of itching to be in touch and communicate with people," said...