There is no way–NO WAY–that a computer can be a more accurate, better judge of an individualās personality than other people, right? RIGHT??
Well, results yielded from a new research study conducted by Cambridge University is implicating just that. But whoa, how can this be? I mean computers are great with statistics and numbers, you know, hard data. But how can a computer effectively assess something as utterly intangible and ludicrously abstract as personality? Impossible, yeah?
Well, according to this research, it is quite possible. In this specific case, computers used one specific metric to assess an individualās personality: Facebook Likes. Results from this study demonstrated that by assessing a personās Facebook Likes, a computer model was able to predict an individualās personality more accurately than most of that personās own family and friends. If the computer was given a sufficient amount of Likes to analyze, only an individualās spouse could parallel the computerās accuracy of personality (as measured by broad psychological traits).
Letās examine some of the results, shall we? Given a mere 10 likes, computers could assess an individualās personality better than a colleague. Given 70 likes, the computer was more accurate than a friend or roommate. Given 150 Likes to analyze, the computer was more accurate than a parent or sibling. And given 300 Likes, a computer could more accurately predict an individualās personality than a spouse. Since the average Facebook user has approximately 227 Likes, the computers have no shortage of data to analyze.
In this study, researchers used a sample of 86,220 individuals on Facebook that completed a 100 item personality questionnaire (from a myPersonality app) and provided access to their Facebook Likes. From the self-reported personality test, scores were generated based on the āBig Fiveā personality traits (also called the OCEAN model): openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The researchers were able to establish which Likes equated with higher levels of specific traits; for example, a Like of āmeditationā showed a higher degree of openness. The aforementioned myPersonality app then gave users the option of inviting others (such as friends and family) to assess the psychological traits of the user via a shorter version of the personality test. The results from people the individual knew and the computer were assessed.
Shockingly, the computer came closer to the results from an individualās self-reported personality than close friends and family members. Ā It seems that the artificial intelligence depicted in the science fiction genre isnāt as far off in the future as we may have believedā¦
Nauert, R. (2015). Computers Better Than Humans for Assessment of Personality?. Psych Central. Retrieved on January 19, 2015.
Faisal Roberts, MA
WKPIC Doctoral Intern