WASHINGTON: Choosing mobile phone cases and customising phones with charms and decorations may reveal a lot about a person's culture, as well as increase attachment to the devices, scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have found.

Researchers found that people from Eastern cultures tend to be more motivated to change the look and sound of their mobile phones than people in Western countries.

"People who live in collectivist cultures are often more other-directed. They want to know how others might look at them and also look to others as a way of influencing their own behaviours," said S Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory, Penn State.

The researchers gave American and South Korean students surveys on how they customised their mobile phones and asked them how they perceived their social identity and efforts to self-promote.