Feasibility of virtual reality and machine learning to assess personality traits in an organizational environment

• Published in: Frontiers in psychology 2024-07, Vol.15, p.1342018
• Main Authors: Vargas, Elena Parra, Carrasco-Ribelles, Lucia Amalia, Marin-Morales, Javier, Molina, Carla Ayuso, Raya, Mariano Alcañiz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: big five traits; eye-tracking; implicit measures; personality traits; Psychology; statistical machine learning; virtual reality
• ISSN: 1664-1078; 1664-1078
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1342018

Personality plays a crucial role in shaping an individual's interactions with the world. The Big Five personality traits are widely used frameworks that help describe people's psychological behaviours. These traits predict how individuals behave within an organizational setting. In this article, we introduce a virtual reality (VR) strategy for relatively scoring an individual's personality to evaluate the feasibility of predicting personality traits from implicit measures captured from users interacting in VR simulations of different organizational situations. Specifically, eye-tracking and decision-making patterns were used to classify individuals according to their level in each of the Big Five dimensions using statistical machine learning (ML) methods. The virtual environment was designed using an evidence-centered design approach. The dimensions were assessed using NEO-FFI inventory. A random forest ML model provided 83% accuracy in predicting agreeableness. A -nearest neighbour ML model provided 75%, 75%, and 77% accuracy in predicting openness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness, respectively. A support vector machine model provided 85% accuracy for predicting extraversion. These analyses indicated that the dimensions could be differentiated by eye-gaze patterns and behaviours during immersive VR. Eye-tracking measures contributed more significantly to this differentiation than the behavioural metrics. Currently, we have obtained promising results with our group of participants, but to ensure the robustness and generalizability of our findings, it is imperative to replicate the study with a considerably larger sample. This study demonstrates the potential of VR and ML to recognize personality traits.