"In an experiment at the University of Arizona, ninety students spent twenty minutes in private typing into a computer whatever came into their minds, reporting their thoughts, feelings and sensations. They were told their commentaries would be kept private and anonymous, linked only with their scores on a personality test. Nine judges then read these twenty-minute bursts of thought and attempted to rate the personalities of the students who had written them....
The judges rated the students' personalities with a high degree of accuracy (as compared with the students' self-ratings). Accuracy was highest for the Big Five personality dimensions of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability, while being somewhat lower for Extraversion and Openness to Experience."
Read more about this story here in the BPS Research Digest.
As the article in the BPS Research Digest says:
ReplyDelete"Of course, this study was awash with methodological issues. Most notably, it is questionable just how open the students were in their 20 minute "stream of thought" essays, despite the promise of anonymity. Would you be prepared to write exactly what came into your head for a psychology experiment?"