Let me read your mind: Personality judgments based on a person's natural stream of thought

Shannon E. Holleran; Matthias R. Mehl

doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2007.07.011

Let me read your mind: Personality judgments based on a person's natural stream of thought

Shannon E. Holleran
, Matthias R. Mehl

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

42 Scopus citations

Abstract

Past research on the accuracy of personality judgments has largely focused on person perception scenarios that are public in nature (e.g., face-to-face interactions, personal websites). This study investigated the accuracy of personality judgments on the basis of highly private information: a person's natural stream of thought. Nine naïve judges rated the personality of 90 targets on the basis of their 20-min stream-of-consciousness essays. Judges' level of accuracy was significant and substantial for all Big Five dimensions. The substantial and relatively uniform accuracy across all Big Five dimensions suggests that a person's moment-to-moment thoughts provide good information for the accurate judgment of personality in general rather than specific diagnostic information for the accurate judgment of private traits such as Neuroticism.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	747-754
Number of pages	8
Journal	Journal of Research in Personality
Volume	42
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2007.07.011
State	Published - Jun 2008

Keywords

Person perception
Personality judgment
Stream of consciousness

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
General Psychology

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10.1016/j.jrp.2007.07.011

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title = "Let me read your mind: Personality judgments based on a person's natural stream of thought",

abstract = "Past research on the accuracy of personality judgments has largely focused on person perception scenarios that are public in nature (e.g., face-to-face interactions, personal websites). This study investigated the accuracy of personality judgments on the basis of highly private information: a person's natural stream of thought. Nine na{\"i}ve judges rated the personality of 90 targets on the basis of their 20-min stream-of-consciousness essays. Judges' level of accuracy was significant and substantial for all Big Five dimensions. The substantial and relatively uniform accuracy across all Big Five dimensions suggests that a person's moment-to-moment thoughts provide good information for the accurate judgment of personality in general rather than specific diagnostic information for the accurate judgment of private traits such as Neuroticism.",

keywords = "Person perception, Personality judgment, Stream of consciousness",

author = "Holleran, \{Shannon E.\} and Mehl, \{Matthias R.\}",

note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH64527-01A1, MH 52391, and National Science Foundation Grant 0422924. We thank Sam Gosling his suggestions on a previous draft.",

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AU - Mehl, Matthias R.

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N2 - Past research on the accuracy of personality judgments has largely focused on person perception scenarios that are public in nature (e.g., face-to-face interactions, personal websites). This study investigated the accuracy of personality judgments on the basis of highly private information: a person's natural stream of thought. Nine naïve judges rated the personality of 90 targets on the basis of their 20-min stream-of-consciousness essays. Judges' level of accuracy was significant and substantial for all Big Five dimensions. The substantial and relatively uniform accuracy across all Big Five dimensions suggests that a person's moment-to-moment thoughts provide good information for the accurate judgment of personality in general rather than specific diagnostic information for the accurate judgment of private traits such as Neuroticism.

AB - Past research on the accuracy of personality judgments has largely focused on person perception scenarios that are public in nature (e.g., face-to-face interactions, personal websites). This study investigated the accuracy of personality judgments on the basis of highly private information: a person's natural stream of thought. Nine naïve judges rated the personality of 90 targets on the basis of their 20-min stream-of-consciousness essays. Judges' level of accuracy was significant and substantial for all Big Five dimensions. The substantial and relatively uniform accuracy across all Big Five dimensions suggests that a person's moment-to-moment thoughts provide good information for the accurate judgment of personality in general rather than specific diagnostic information for the accurate judgment of private traits such as Neuroticism.

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KW - Stream of consciousness

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Let me read your mind: Personality judgments based on a person's natural stream of thought

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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