Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s been impossible to ignore the controversy around Facebook for allowing access to Cambridge Analytica (the Richard Mercer-founded, Breitbart-affiliated consulting firm), access to user data for political motives. However, in the wake of increasing scrutiny around the way social media giants control and regulate user privacy, a study from 2015 conducted by Stanford University and Cambridge University’s Psychometrics Center has come to light.
According to a recent New York Times article, the 2015 study pulled from a Facebook app called myPersonality, ”a 100-question quiz developed by the Psychometrics Center that assessed a person’s openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.” The 70,000 participants that responded to the quiz gave the app access to not only their personal Facebook profiles, but all of their friends as well. Researchers were then able to study personality traits based solely on Facebook likes.
Now we know that not only did Cambridge Analytica approach the Psychometrics Center about using its models, but when the center declined, they built their own. You can find the results of the 2016 study below which come with a bunch of surprising (and less surprising) insights. The New York Times summary of the findings can be found in full here.
| MOST OPEN | LEAST OPEN |
|---|---|
| Tom Waits musician | Cheryl Cole musician |
| Salvador Dalí artist | “The Hills” TV show |
| Björk musician | Luke Bryan musician |
| “A Clockwork Orange” movie | Adidas Football brand |
| Writing hobby | Jason Aldean musician |
| MOST CONSCIENTIOUS | LEAST CONSCIENTIOUS |
|---|---|
| Running hobby | Bring Me the Horizon musician |
| “Private Practice” TV show | Escape the Fate musician |
| Traveling hobby | “Adventure Time” TV show |
| Cooking hobby | Minecraft Game |
| Hiking hobby | “The Skins” TV show |
| MOST EXTROVERTED | LEAST EXTROVERTED |
|---|---|
| DJ Pauly D musician | Anime |
| Michael Kors brand | Nightwish musician |
| Waka Flocka Flame musician | Manga |
| JWoww TV star | Video Games hobby |
| Gucci Mane musician | Drawing hobby |
| MOST AGREEABLE | LEAST AGREEABLE |
|---|---|
| Casting Crowns musician | Marilyn Manson musician |
| The Bible | Rammstein musician |
| God | Placebo musician |
| Rascal Flatts musician | Judas Priest musician |
| Relient K musician | “Californication” TV show |
| MOST NEUROTIC | LEAST NEUROTIC |
|---|---|
| Placebo musician | “SportsCenter” TV show |
| Escape the Fate musician | ESPN TV network |
| Bring Me the Horizon musician | Derrick Rose athlete |
| Marilyn Manson musician | Miami Heat sports team |
| The Smiths musician | Football sport |
