Here are a few sentences to ponder:
Some commentators have suggested that the internet allows people to present idealised versions of themselves to the world. Contrary to that idea, Yarkoni found that bloggers' choice of words consistently related to their personality type just as has been found in past offline research.
More neurotic bloggers used more words associated with negative emotions; extravert bloggers used more words pertaining to positive emotions; high scorers on agreeableness avoided swear words and used more words related to communality; and conscientious bloggers mentioned more words with achievement connotations.
Can we all agree that the cited post represents a considerable success? And might it apply to blog commentators as well?
Addendum: Arnold Kling comments.
Hell no.
I’m not entirely certain … the detail here (and in the post you link to) is a bit scant.
The theory that a person’s choice of words reflects personality has the support of statistics (though language is learned, so it may also stem from their education and peers) – but what’s represented in the first sentence is the notion that this is “contrary” to the “idealized version” that a person attempts to represent.
So what’s suggested is that a blogger attempts to present an version of himself to others that is contrary to his “true” personality, which can be discovered by examining the language. What’s lacking is a good example of this, or statistical evidence to support the conclusion, or even a clear indication of how the two can be disjointed.
That’s to say that the notion that language reflects personality is a reasonable hypothesis (which would apply to blogs, to comments, and to any communication in any medium) – but to suggest that bloggers habitually attempt to misrepresent themselves remains unsupported by any evidence or theorem I can see.
Jolly good, old boy. Carry on.
“More neurotic bloggers used more words associated with negative emotions; extravert bloggers used more words pertaining to positive emotions;”
Are we to read this as an implication that introverted people are neurotic? It’s difficult to buy into a psychological analysis with that kind of starting point.
Hm. I’ve always thought about my online self as being a slightly more considered version of myself. Given this offered the chance to take a look at my LJ in a more detached way, I used typealyzer, and it was insightful inasmuch as it showed some mood transition through the past two or three years.
On the mbti, I’m an entp, but my blog keeps coming through as istp and intp, so I’d imagine there’s an example of an online self being even more introverted than I am in reality (or maybe not. I crave company, but more like someone who likes debate does, for the ideas presented that are different than my own). My wordle cloud seems pretty suggestive though, “something, good, feeling, probably, things, i think, person, life”
For a discussion of another point of view on word selection versus personality, language log has a couple posts on pronouns and it’s correlation (or lack thereof) to vanity; http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1651 and http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2436
“Are we to read this as an implication that introverted people are neurotic?”
Extraversion and Neuroticism are independent traits, so you can score high or low on either one. Someone who experiences more frequent positive as well as negative emotions you might call quasi-bipolar or full of drama or something. Someone can experience less frequent positive as well as negative emotions — they’re just not moved at all.
That 2×2 table is what the Four Humors view of personality is: Melancholic is -E,+N, Phlegmatic is -E,-N, Choleric is +E,+N, and Sanguine is +E,-N.
I’ll bet that Vibram five is perfectly positive, happy, extroverted, communal, and conscientious. I can tell from his comment. You need more commenters like Vibram five.
Too bad he’s a spammer.
Are you looking for a money making blog or one purely for personal use?
Just blogging for personal use it pretty easy. Go to a site like blogger.com or wordpress.com and setup a free, simple blog.
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