Technology

Web Log: Phone usage patterns may predict personality type

Women classified as sensitive or neurotic appeared to move about checking their phone late into the night

RMIT University computer scientists Dr Flora Salim, Nan Gao and Dr Wei Shao

Marie Boran
Thu Aug 1 2019 - 05:47

Your phone’s accelerometer may reveal a lot about your personality: by recording movements it can predict traits like extroversion or conscientiousness.

Research from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia compared the Big Five personality traits with physical exertion as recorded on a person's smartphone and came up with some interesting results.

"Activity like how quickly or how far we walk, or when we pick up our phones up during the night, often follows patterns and these patterns say a lot about our personality type," said Dr Flora Salim, a computer scientist who worked on the study.

It was found that those with consistent movements on weekday evenings were more likely to be introverted while those with more erratic movements were generally extroverted.

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Women classified as sensitive or neurotic appeared to move about checking their phone late into the night and often past midnight while neurotic males tended to do the opposite.

"There are applications for this technology in social media with friend recommendations, online dating matches and targeted advertising," added the study's lead author Nan Gao. Let's just hope this research isn't misused by large and powerful tech companies.

https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2019/jul/phone-movement-personaility

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