It's the one aspect of our Facebook profile which we probably put the most thought in to.

Do you just upload a badly-lit selfie and have done with it? Or do you agonise over which image simultaneously conveys your intelligence, humility, professional success and fun-side?

Now users are taking a 'less is more' stance on their profiles, ditching that long list of quotes and a detailed 'about me' section in favour of a more paired-back approach, your profile picture is having to work hard .

There's more than 1.65 billion active users on Facebook, of which the majority will have a profile picture that's actually of them.

That's a lot of people and, if you know what to look out for, a great deal of insight into their personalities.

Each personality trait has a specific type of profile picture

To find out which of the 'big five' personality traits a person fell in to, a team of researchers analysed 66,000 Twitter users' tweets, as well as surveying a further 434.

What does your profile say about you? (
Image:
Getty)

The character assessment was done for a paper called 'Analyzing Personality through Social Media Profile Picture Choice' and carried out by the University of Pennsylvania.

The findings of the survey as well as the Tweets were then cross-referenced with users' profile pictures to get a clearer picture of their natures, and here's what they uncovered.

1. Extroverts

Characterised by their engagement in the world around them, extroverts are likely to have colourful profile pictures, with other people featuring in them.

But however much fun they seem to be having in their picture, extroverts ranked low for the quality of image.

An extrovert in action (
Image:
Getty)

They also like to project a youthful image according to the study which states:

"Different from all other personalities, extroversion is negatively correlated with the age of the presenting faces, which means that users either appear younger in their profiles or are photographed with other young(er) people."

2. Neurotics

In contrast to the extroverts of social media, people with neurotic tendencies take a very different type of image.

Neurotics lean towards having animals or objects to deflect attention away from them (
Image:
Getty)

Associated with experiencing negative emotions and emotional instability, neurotics "display simple, uncolourful images with negative color emotions."

Not only this, but they're far more likely to obscure their faces with reading glasses, or use an inanimate object, or an animal.

3. Openness

According to the study, the lucky people who fell into this category take the best pictures.

However, they were also the most likely to have photos lacking in colour and displaying more negative emotions.

This sort of profile picture is characteristic if openness (
Image:
Google)

 

Non-conformists by nature, there were similarities between them neurotics (using / hiding behind reading glasses), though their 'openness' covered both intellect and experience.

4. Agreeable sorts

Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, those who were found to have agreeable personalities sported bright, colourful profile pictures.

It's a trait defined "by social harmony and cooperation" and as such, users with this quality tend to have profile pictures with other faces in them.

Multiple people laughing and joking is indicative of agreeableness (
Image:
Getty)

 

But while their photos are smiling, joyous and positive, they're not necessarily the most aesthetically pleasing:

"Their pictures are cluttered as opposed to simple."

5. Conscientious types

As the study states, "Conscientiousness is the personality trait associated with orderliness, planned behavior and self-discipline."

Conscientious people are a happy lot

With this in mind, this image type is often characterised by "one good face" and are more colorful, natural and bright than those of other traits.

The most expressive bunch, conscientious types display give off smiling, joyful vibes - possibly because they know they're 'expected' to be happy in their profile picture.