Psychology Of Personality Week 1 Response
Before examining the research on this topic, I firmly believed that social media is not an accurate representation of an individual or their personality. I think that it can be argued that social media shows depictions of what the individual wants the world to see and think of them at a specific given point in time, but that it is ultimately impossible to showcase the entirety of who you are using a screen, or any technology for that matter. You are constantly learning and gaining information on the people around you, even those you have known for years, so without face-to-face interaction, it is impossible to understand what comprises an individual. In a previous course, we had to read a book entitled Talking to Strangers, written by Malcolm Gladwell. This novel highlighted how, despite countless interactions and involvements with others, you may never fully understand or know who they are as a human being, emphasized by cases in which individuals were deceived by others they thought themselves to know well (Gladwell, 2019). With this in mind, I do not believe you can fully understand the extent of one’s personality via social media platforms alone.
However, thoughts were countered by the article “Predicting Personality with Social Media,” in which researchers administered a Big Five Personality Inventory to 279 subjects and collected information about the individuals using their Facebook accounts. The data gathered included their structural features, personal information, activities, and preferences. When investigating the Big Five Personality traits (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism), the study used machine learning models to predict the personality traits of the participants with a mean absolute error of approximately 11%, indicating that the predictions were within 11% of the actual values, which is considered a relatively low margin of error. Openness to Experience and Agreeableness were both found to be positively correlated with the length of reported activities, which also had a positive effect on the Extroversion trait, alongside the number of friends on the account. However, the number of friends lowered Neuroticism scores, which were, in turn, increased by a high frequency of anxiety words in posts, such as worried, fearful, and nervous. Conscientiousness was positively related to the frequency of words related to social processes and people, whereas it negatively correlated to the frequency of swear words throughout the account and posts (Golbeck et al., 2011).
Following the review of this article, while it uses research to argue my current stance, I still question the reliability of accurately predicting personality using social media. While the researchers used machine learning models, I believe most humans would analyze these individuals differently- assumably with more significant error. However, I am interested in further researching this topic and further exploring the discrepancies between computerized interpretations and that of individuals coming into contact with others. I also am excited to see the studies reviewed by my peers, as well as their perceptions on this topic.
References:
Gladwell, M. (2019). Talking to strangers: What we should know about the people we don’t know. Little, Brown and Company. https://slims.umn.ac.id/index.php?p=show_detail&id=22483&keywords=
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Golbeck, J., Robles, C., & Turner, K. (2011). Predicting personality with social media. Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts Human Factors Computation Systems. https://doi.org/10.1145/1979742.1979614
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Renee Catanzaro
Wednesday
In today’s modern world, the use of the internet and social media accounts is prevalent for almost everyone. Regardless of gender, age, profession, or financial class just about everyone uses at least one social media platform. In our textbook reading this week, Schultz and Schultz (2020) outline several research studies addressing personality and social media. The research attempts to discover whether individuals present their authentic selves or an idealized online version. Findings indicate that most individuals’ online personalities are as accurately depicted as in-person interactions, but the challenge remains that individuals may still put on a public face or mask for both in-person and online impressions (Schultz & Schultz, 2020).
Saitov et al. (2021) conducted a study of user’s content and the images and photographs they posted. Using digital traces, the researchers attempted to find a correlation to the user’s personality by analyzing the images posted on the public pages of an individual’s social networks. The study used a predictive model based on user status updates and activity and found extraversion characteristics presented in users who tended to post images of people. In comparison, introverts were more likely to focus their posts on images of pets, landscapes, and nature and less on social interactions (Saitov et al., 2021). Other recent studies, according to Schultz and Schultz (2020) have also shown that introverts find it easier to show their true personalities online rather than in person.
I think that users’ personalities can be depicted in their online profiles, by the images, and textual content that is posted. The challenge is that the interpretation of the content may be misunderstood by the viewer. Some users tend to post an update for every happening in their life; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Often others may find these posts to contain too much personal information, wonder about their emotional stability or mental health, and do not have a desire to hear about their dirty laundry. While other users may only post the highlights of their lives, which may include beautiful images, grand travels, and big accomplishments. Some viewers may believe that their life is perfect, while the poster may have just as many or more heartaches and challenges in their life as the viewer, but this user chooses to keep the negatives private and chooses to share only the positive. Each example alludes to the personal characteristics and traits of the individual as played out on the social media platform and is an accurate reflection of their personality.
References
Saitov, I., Surikov, A., & Gorokhovatsky, L. (2021). Analysis of the Relationship between the Users Personality Traits and the Images They Post on Social Media. Procedia Computer Science, 193, 155-162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2021.10.015
Links to an external site.
Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E. (2020). Theories personality.
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