Most of my friends name their cars.

I never have though.

Your car's personality could say a lot about your own

FORT COLLINS - A study at Colorado State University finds what you think about your car may say a lot about how you act when you are behind the wheel.

Researchers at CSU surveyed 204 college psychology students to see how they feel about their cars.

More than half assigned a gender to their cars.

More than a third named their cars.

The research indicates drivers who assign human qualities to their vehicles tend to be more aggressive.

"Essentially, if you perceive your car to be a jerk, you're more likely to drive like a jerk," graduate researcher Jake Benfield said.

However, the personalities of drivers and the personalities they assigned their cars were not always the same.

"They weren't just saying, 'Contessa's just like me,'" Benfield said. "They were saying, 'Contessa's different. She's nicer than I am or more extraverted, more emotionally stable, less conscientious.'"

Next, the research team plans to explore whether people who give their cars a personality do so to make up for what they perceive as faults in their own personalities.

Survey USA asked 500 adults in the Denver Metro area if they have ever assigned a gender to their cars. 42 percent said "yes" and 58 percent said "no." The margin of error is 4.4 percent.

We also asked 500 adults if they have ever given their cars a name. 46 percent said "yes" and 54 percent said "no." The margin of error is 4.5 percent.