Facebook Fan Profile Methodology

8/7/2019 Facebook Fan Profile Methodology

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How MyType leverages its psychology survey platform to gain

insight into the personality traits, values and morals of Facebook

users who “like” a given movie.

Facebook Fan Profile

Methodology

January 2011



www.mytype.com | 2

About MyType

MyType provides personality, political and other psychographic surveys at www.mytype.com

and on Facebook, making it fun to learn about yourself and compare results with friends. Over

one million people have completed our surveys. We leverage this rich data platform to

conduct original market and political research. For custom demographic and psychographic

opinion research, contact us at [email protected] or the number below. Please direct all

press inquiries to [email protected].

[email protected]

201-285-8271

6 Leo Place

Wayne, NJ 07470

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Tim Koelkebeck, MyType’s founder and CEO, wrote this report and performed the underlying

analysis. Tim has a degree in Computer Science from Harvard, where he also studied

psychology and neuroscience.



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Fan Profile Methodology

DATA COLLECTION Facebook users visit the MyType website (www.mytype.com) or Facebook application

(apps.facebook.com/my-type) to complete psychology surveys in order to learn aboutthemselves and compare results with friends. An overview of each of our core surveys – a

recently upgraded Big Five Personality Survey, the Portrait Values Questionnaire, and a Moral

Foundations Survey – is provided below, under “Psychology Surveys”.

From May through December of 2010, 92,620 of our users who had completed at least one of

these core surveys also shared their basic Facebook profile info with us, which includes the

movie field.

DATA REFINEMENT REJECTED QUIZ SUBMISSIONS Data from the following kinds of submissions were not included in the analyses: incomplete

submissions, duplicate submissions, submissions with bogus answers like an extremely recent

or distant birth year, and submissions in which the respondent did not agree with the statement

that all of his or her answers were truthful.

MOVIE TITLE PROCESSING After performing an ultra-conservative, rudimentary string cleaning of the millions of raw movie

titles shared with with MyType, we tabulated the 1,000 most popular titles. In Google Refine,

we meticulously performed a series of string-matching algorithms to reduce this list to 876

distinct, "clean" movie titles. In most cases we collapsed movie series into a single entry, for

example all Lord of the Rings titles were mapped to a single bucket. We then rescanned all

raw titles, looking for those with a count of 10 or more that also conservatively matched one of

our 876 clean titles (based on levenshtein distance), and mapped the matching raw titles to

their respective clean titles. This provided us with a reasonably complete set of all users in our

sample who liked one of these 876 titles, whether they misspelled it, used a common

abbreviation, or otherwise varied the title in ways that at least 9 other people had done.



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SAMPLE NORMALIZATION We assign every MyType user a weight based on how under- or overrepresented that user’s

combination of age group, gender, census division and personality type is within MyType’s

userbase, as compared to the general US population. These weights were used to calculate

the associated percentile for each raw score on every psychology scale across all three coresurveys, which in turn allow us to define the 20% and 80% thresholds for each scale. These

thresholds drive our labeling schemes, as described in the Psychology Survey section below.

To calculate the weights, we periodically break our userbase down into 1,440 strata, one for

each unique combination of age range, gender, census division and personality type. There

are 5 age ranges (18-23, 24-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-60), 2 genders, 9 census divisions and 16

personality types. Because reliable data are available on the distribution of the US population

across the 16 Jung personality types, MyType measures respondents’ Jung types in order to

normalize by personality. This is necessary because there is a substantial personality bias

among active survey-takers online. Note that the Jung types are not used for personality

analysis, only for normalization. We calculate the user’s Jung type based on answers to the

Big Five questions (which are dual-scored) and a dozen or more jung-specific questions.

Census data are available for the age, gender and location distribution of the US population.

Combined with the jung personality data, this enables MyType to determine the percentage

that each of the 1,440 stratum represent in the US population. For each stratum, we divide

this percentage by its percentage representation in the raw MyType userbase. This

determines the weight for each respondent in that stratum. For instance if 40-49 year old

female ISTJs (a personality type) living in New England represent x percent of the general US

population and 2x percent of MyType, then all women in that stratum are given a weight of 0.5,

since they are overrepresented in the sample.

Less than 5% of our userbase belong to strata that are underrepresented by a factor of 4 of

more, relative to the general US population of 18-60 year olds, and all but a few dozen people

are underrepresented by a factor of more than 10. The vast majority of strata, then, are well

represented within MyType’s userbase.

NORMALIZED M YT YPE SAMPLE COMPARED TO THE

GENERAL US POPULATION

One way to measure the robustness of the normalized sample is to compare it to the generalUS population on measurement dimensions that were not directly weighted, e.g. income, race

and education level. We provided this comparison in the “Survey Sample Compared to the

US” section from our Religious Right Taking Over The Tea Party study. The Tea Party sample

is a 17,654 respondent subset of the 96,620 fan profile sample. The only difference in data

collection between the two samples is time period, i.e. the Tea Party sample is the fan profile

sample between August and mid-October. There are no major differences in the demographic

and psychographic makeup of the respondents active during the Tea Party study and the



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makeup of rest of the fan profile sample. The comparison provided in the Tea Party report,

then, is reasonably descriptive of the fan profile sample as well.

Again, the full details and graphs are provided in the Tea Party report, but in brief we found

that the normalized Tea Party sample has income, race, region and education level

distributions that are fairly representative of the US. It significantly varies from the USpopulation in only the following ways:

• Slightly wealthier, with the poorest income bracket being moderately underrepresented

• Less than half the percentage of African Americans

• Substantially more educated

These variances mirror those found in the general internet-using population.

PSYCHOLOGY SURVEYS Each respondent completed one or more of the following well-established psychology surveys.

PERSONALITY SURVEY MyType measures 15 personality dimensions via a 40 question Big Five survey: the five, high-

level personality domains and two

detailed aspects, or traits, of each of

the five domains. The 30 personality

traits used to label the top and bottom20% of each dimension are defined in

the table to the right.

The Big Five is the gold standard

personality model in contemporary

psychology research. The specific

survey MyType uses, the Big Five

Aspect Scales (BFAS), was

developed by Colin DeYoung, PhD.

Note that in some cases we use

slightly different personality trait

labels than Dr. DeYoung.

Below are definitions of each of the

15 dimensions.

Personality

DimensionBottom 20% Top 20%

Extraversion Introverted Extraverted

Assertiveness Passive Assertive

Enthusiasm Reserved Sociable

Agreeableness Disagreeable Agreeable

Compassion Detached Compassionate

Politeness Competitive Polite

Diligence Careless Diligent

Industriousness Procrastinating Hardworking

Organization Unorganized Organized

Emotional Stability Neurotic Assured

Composure Moody Composed

Security Insecure Secure

Sophistication Unsophisticated Sophisticated

Intellect Unintellectual Intellectual

Imagination Grounded Imaginative



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ExtraversionExtraverts score high on both assertiveness and sociability. Introverts score low.

Assertiveness. The willingness to speak one's mind as well as the desire and ability totake charge; assertive vs. passive.

Sociability. The disposition to open up and express positive feelings when with others;sociable vs. reserved.

AgreeablenessAgreeable people score high on both compassion and sociability. The disagreeable score low.

Compassion. Involves being interested in, sympathetic with and willing to help others;compassionate vs. detached.

Politeness. The tendency to avoid conflict and not put yourself before others; polite vs.competitive.

Diligence (aka Conscientiousness)Diligent people score high on both industriousness and orderliness. The careless score low.

Industriousness. The tendency to dive into work, stay focused, and finish the job withlittle to no interruption; hardworking vs. procrastinating.

Orderliness. The need to be organized and methodical; organized vs. unorganized.

Assuredness (aka Emotional Stability)Assured people score high on both composure and confidence. Neurotic people score low.

Composure. The disposition to be calm and not easily upset or annoyed; composedvs. moody.

Confidence. Involves being comfortable with oneself and unlikely to feel vulnerable;confident vs. insecure.

Sophistication (aka Openess to Experience)Sophisticated people score high on both intellectualism and imagination. Down-to-earthpeople score low.

Intellectualism. The inclination towards complexity in thought and conversation;

intellectual vs. unintellectual.

Imagination. The predisposition to engage in undirected, often creative, thought andaction as well as appreciate beauty in many forms including art, nature and ideas;imaginative vs. grounded.

Learn more about the Big Five, or learn about yourself by taking the personality survey.



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VALUES SURVEY MyType measures 10 values via the 40-question Schwartz Value Survey, the most widespread

values measure in academic psychology research. Respondents who score in the top 20% for

a given value are considered to “have” that value, and those scoring in the bottom 20% are

considered as not holding that value.

Power. The attainment of social status and prestige and control or dominance over people and resources.

Achievement. Personal success through demonstrated competence. Competence isevaluated in terms of what is valued by the system or organization in which theindividual is located.

Pleasure. Fun and physical gratification.

Stimulation. Excitement, novelty, and challenge in life. Derived from the need for

variety and stimulation in order to maintain an optimal level of activation. Thrill seekingcan be the result of strong stimulation needs.

Self-direction. Independent thought and action, e.g. choosing, creating, exploring.Comes from the need for control and mastery as well as autonomy and independence.

Universalism. The understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection of thewelfare for all people and for nature.

Benevolence. The preservation and enhance the welfare of people with whom one isin frequent personal contact.

Tradition. Respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that one'sculture or religion imposes on the individual. A traditional mode of behavior becomes asymbol of the group's solidarity and an expression of its unique worth and, hopefully, itssurvival.

Conformity. Restraint of action, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harmothers and violate social expectations or norms. Derived from the requirement thatindividuals inhibit inclinations that might be socially disruptive in order for personalinteraction and group functioning to run smoothly.

Security. Safety, harmony, and stability of society or relationships, and of self.

Take the values survey to discover which of these values are most important to you.



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MORALS SURVEY MyType measures five moral foundations via the 25 question Sacredness Survey developed

by Jon Haidt, PhD and Jesse Graham, PhD and based on Haidt’s well-established MoralFoundations Theory, which proposes that five innate and universally available psychological

systems are the foundations of “intuitive ethics.” Respondents who score in the top 20% for a

given moral foundation are considered as highly regarding it, and those scoring in the bottom

20% are considered as not regarding that moral foundation.

No Harm. Concerns about the physical and emotional suffering of others, particularlyinnocent victims. Virtues of this foundation include compassion, kindness, andnurturance.

Fairness. Concerns about fairness, justice and rights, including intuitions supporting

reciprocity for both good and bad deeds.

Group Loyalty. Obligations to one's group (any relevant social group from families toteams to nations), including expectations of loyalty and self-sacrifice for that group, over and above other groups.

Respect for Authority. Concerns about showing proper respect to authorities,traditions and institutions, as well as fulfilling the duties of one's role in social hierarchies(whether you are a superior or inferior in that hierarchy).

Purity. Seeing the body as a temple and believing that people have an obligation tolive in a "pure" or "holy" way.

Take the morals survey to discover your moral foundations.

FAN PROFILE STATS A fan profile is made up of what we call likelihood ratios, which are best explained by example.

Let’s say that 40% of Matrix fans score as “intellectual” on the personality survey, and that only

15% of everyone else (i.e. everyone in the sample who is not a Matrix fan on Facebook) score

as intellectual. Then the intellectual likelihood ratio for Matrix fans is 40/15, or 2.67. Thiswould be written in the personality section of the Matrix fan profile as “Intellectual (2.7x)”, and

should be read as “Matrix fans are 2.7 times (or 170%) more likely than others to be

intellectual.”

Facebook Fan Profile Methodology

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