The Online Social Self: An Open Vocabulary Approach to Personality. (April 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kern, Margaret L.; Eichstaedt, Johannes C.; Schwartz, H. Andrew; Dziurzynski, Lukasz; Ungar, Lyle H.; Stillwell, David J.; Kosinski, Michal; Ramones, Stephanie M.; Seligman, Martin E. P.
• Is Part Of: Assessment. Volume 21:Number 2(2014:Apr.)
• Page Start: 158
• Page End: 169
• Publication Date: 2014-04
• Subjects: computational social science -- Big Five personality -- linguistic analysis -- online studies -- interdisciplinary research; Psychological tests -- Periodicals; Psychodiagnostics -- Periodicals; Personality tests -- Periodicals; 150.287
• DOI: 10.1177/1073191113514104
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1073-1911

Abstract

Objective: We present a new open language analysis approach that identifies and visually summarizes the dominant naturally occurring words and phrases that most distinguished each Big Five personality trait.Method: Using millions of posts from 69, 792 Facebook users, we examined the correlation of personality traits with online word usage. Our analysis method consists of feature extraction, correlational analysis, and visualization.Results: The distinguishing words and phrases were face valid and provide insight into processes that underlie the Big Five traits.Conclusion: Open-ended data driven exploration of large datasets combined with established psychological theory and measures offers new tools to further understand the human psyche.