IBM has developed a program called the “The IBM Watson Personality Insights Service” that “uses linguistic analytics to extract a spectrum of cognitive and social characteristics from the text data that a person generates through blogs, tweets, forum posts, and more.”
I don’t know how this thing works, but let’s try it out on some samples of literature. It requires a minimum of 100 words of text. I chose the first page (or a substantial chunk therefrom) of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier, Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, and James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. I also included one of Emily Dickinson’s longer poems, “I cannot live with You.”
I learned that Joyce is “adventurous,” Ford and Grahame are “genial,” and Dickens is “heartfelt and confident.” Those results seem plausible. But I was surprised to learn that Dickinson is “boisterous” (but “laid-back”) while Austen and Carroll are “unconcerned with art.”
I also added a text from my gardening blog and discovered that I am “inner-directed, shrewd and strict.” I was surprised to learn that overall the program found my simple gardening post rather similar to Finnegans Wake.
The program produces statistical results and also a narrative summary. Following are the narrative results:
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
You are social, unpretentious and can be perceived as shortsighted.
You are laid-back: you appreciate a relaxed pace in life. You are assertive: you tend to speak up and take charge of situations, and you are comfortable leading groups. And you are unconcerned with art: you are less concerned with artistic or creative activities than most people who participated in our surveys.
Your choices are driven by a desire for well-being.
You are relatively unconcerned with both independence and taking pleasure in life. You welcome when others direct your activities for you. And you prefer activities with a purpose greater than just personal enjoyment.
Emily Dickinson, I cannot live with You —
You are boisterous.
You are laid-back: you appreciate a relaxed pace in life. You are unconcerned with art: you are less concerned with artistic or creative activities than most people who participated in our surveys. And you are proud: you hold yourself in high regard, satisfied with who you are.
You are motivated to seek out experiences that provide a strong feeling of discovery.
You are relatively unconcerned with achieving success: you make decisions with little regard for how they show off your talents. You consider taking pleasure in life to guide a large part of what you do: you are highly motivated to enjoy life to its fullest.
Ford Maddox Ford, The Good Soldier
You are genial.
You are empathetic: you feel what others feel and are compassionate towards them. You are confident: you are hard to embarrass and are self-confident most of the time. And you are calm-seeking: you prefer activities that are quiet, calm, and safe.
Your choices are driven by a desire for well-being.
You consider helping others to guide a large part of what you do: you think it is important to take care of the people around you. You are relatively unconcerned with tradition: you care more about making your own path than following what others have done.
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
You are heartfelt and confident.
You are empathetic: you feel what others feel and are compassionate towards them. You are calm under pressure: you handle unexpected events calmly and effectively. And you are unstructured: you do not make a lot of time for organization in your daily life.
Your choices are driven by a desire for efficiency.
You are relatively unconcerned with tradition: you care more about making your own path than following what others have done. You consider helping others to guide a large part of what you do: you think it is important to take care of the people around you.
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
You are unpretentious.
You are empathetic: you feel what others feel and are compassionate towards them. You are unconcerned with art: you are less concerned with artistic or creative activities than most people who participated in our surveys. And you are intermittent: you have a hard time sticking with difficult tasks for a long period of time.
Your choices are driven by a desire for well-being.
You consider independence to guide a large part of what you do: you like to set your own goals to decide how to best achieve them. You are relatively unconcerned with tradition: you care more about making your own path than following what others have done.
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
You are heartfelt, genial and social.
You are empathetic: you feel what others feel and are compassionate towards them. You are calm under pressure: you handle unexpected events calmly and effectively. And you are confident: you are hard to embarrass and are self-confident most of the time.
You are motivated to seek out experiences that provide a strong feeling of well-being.
You consider independence to guide a large part of what you do: you like to set your own goals to decide how to best achieve them. You are relatively unconcerned with tradition: you care more about making your own path than following what others have done.
Tom’s Garden
You are inner-directed, shrewd and strict.
You are empathetic: you feel what others feel and are compassionate towards them. You are independent: you have a strong desire to have time to yourself. And you are authority-challenging: you prefer to challenge authority and traditional values to help bring about positive changes.
You are motivated to seek out experiences that provide a strong feeling of prestige.
You are relatively unconcerned with both tradition and achieving success. You care more about making your own path than following what others have done. And you make decisions with little regard for how they show off your talents.
James Joyce, Finnegans Wake
You are heartfelt, somewhat insensitive and strict.
You are adventurous: you are eager to experience new things. You are authority-challenging: you prefer to challenge authority and traditional values to help bring about positive changes. And you are calm under pressure: you handle unexpected events calmly and effectively.
Experiences that make you feel high well-being are generally unappealing to you.
You are relatively unconcerned with both achieving success and tradition. You make decisions with little regard for how they show off your talents. And you care more about making your own path than following what others have done.
Thoughts?