Real talk: what do the things you “like” on Facebook say about you as a person? More than you think it does. A new study by research psychologists from the University of Cambridge in England indicates that Facebook “likes” can paint an astonishingly accurate picture of user personality traits such as race, age, IQ, sexual orientation, political leanings and likelihood of drug use.
The study collected data from 58,000 participants who shared private information including the results from IQ tests and personality questionnaires then created a predictive mathematical algorithm by comparing the personal information submitted with the pages participants
had “liked” on Facebook. After identifying the strongest correlations between certain
“likes” and certain types of demographic information, the program then predicted personality traits for participants based purely on “likes” alone.
The results were alarmingly accurate.
The algorithm successfully differentiated between African Americans and Caucasian Americans 95% of the time, Democrats and Republicans 85% of the time,
smokers and non-smokers 73% of the time, gay men and straight men 88% of the time and men and women of any sexual orientation 88% of the time, confirming some super reductive personality assumptions like if you’re a male hip hop/basketball fan you’re probably straight and if you’re a male cosmetics/Wicked The Musical fan you’re probably not.
Check out some key personality indicators below…
‘Likes’ that indicate high intelligence
– The Colbert Report
– Science
– Curly fries
‘Likes’ that indicate low intelligence
– I love being a Mum
– Harley Davidson
– Lady Antebellum
‘Likes’ that indicate male homosexuality
– Mac Cosmetics
– Wicked the Musical
– Desperate Housewives
‘Likes’ that indicate male heterosexuality
– Wu-Tung Clan
– Shaquille O’Neal
– Being confused after waking up from naps
