How a relationship changes your personality: AI pinpoints how partners pick up each others habits to feel a 'sense of unity'

  • AI was trained to predict user marital status by analysing social media sites
  • It reveals that people's personalities change when they are in a relationship 
  • People can pick up good and bad habits and even change their language

If you find yourself picking up phrases from your partner, and have even noticed your personality changing, there's good news - you're probably very committed to your relationship. 

Researchers have built an algorithm that analyses social media to track personality changes. 

The results suggest that people's personalities change when in a committed relationship, picking up both good and bad habits in a bid to feel a 'sense of unity' with their partner. 

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Researchers built an algorithm that can predict whether or not users are single based on their social media accounts. It could predict marital status with an 86 per cent accuracy rate, revealing that people's personalities change in relationships (stock image)

PREDICTING RELATIONSHIP STATUS

The algorithm was developed by mathematicians from ITMO in Saint Petersburg, Russia and National University of Singapore. 

The team gathered social media data from Twitter, Instagram and Four Square.

They separated the data into sets, or vectors, of such parameters as an average tweet size, the most frequent objects in the photo, check-in distribution and so on.

One of the researches fed the data to the algorithm and then input the information into the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

The scales describe a person in terms of how he or she interacts with the world, which is easiest to learn through their social media accounts

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Researchers from ITMO in Saint Petersburg, Russia and National University of Singapore built the algorithm that can predict whether or not users are single based on their social media accounts.

It guessed marital status with an 86 per cent accuracy rate, revealing that people's use of social media - and hence their personalities - change in relationships.

Study co-author Mr Aleksandr Farseev said that the team looked at the number of emotional words and topics in tweets.

He said that language use changes in a relationship when users stop referring to their bond as 'me and her' or 'me and you' and start using 'us' and 'we'.

'When the commitment gets to a certain point, people spontaneously start to use plural pronouns,' Dr Brent Mattingly, an assistant professor of psychology at Ursinus College who was not involved with building the algorithm, told Vice.

'"We," "us," "ours." The way they think about themselves begins to change to where it's not just them, it's them plus the partner. There's this communal identity that happens.'

Once couples reach this stage in a relationship their egos subside, the researchers claim, and they begin to put aside their own interests for the sake of the relationship.

People may stop smoking, gossiping or drinking, a process that Dr Mattingly and his colleagues describe as 'self-pruning.'

Those in relationships may also take up positive new hobbies and self-interests such as volunteering and exercise, which Dr Mattingly's team describe as 'self-expansion.'

But the researchers warn that 'self-adulteration', in which people in long-term relationships pick up bad new habits, can also occur.

It may be common knowledge that President Donald Trump is married, but an AI suggested otherwise earlier this month. An algorithm that predicts user marital status by analysing social media use has determined he tweets like a bachelor - identifying him as 'not-married'

It may be common knowledge that President Donald Trump is married, but an AI suggested otherwise earlier this month. An algorithm that predicts user marital status by analysing social media use has determined he tweets like a bachelor - identifying him as 'not-married'

This includes making less effort to go out and see friends. 

Good habits can be dropped in relationships in a process described as 'self-contraction', the team claim.

'People in established relationships who don't show these [changed] patterns, it's possible they don't feel the level of commitment you'd expect from their status,' Dr Mattingly said.

'There might be external factors that are keeping the relationship going, yet psychologically they don't really feel that sense of unity.'

Many of Donald Trump's tweets that are deemed outrageous have been shared in the early hours of the day. For example, this tweet was shared at 2:07 AM

Many of Donald Trump's tweets that are deemed outrageous have been shared in the early hours of the day. For example, this tweet was shared at 2:07 AM

The AI determined that Trump was unmarried because it believed his tweets sounded as if he was a bachelor

The AI determined that Trump was unmarried because it believed his tweets sounded as if he was a bachelor

TRUMP VERSUS OBAMA 

To demonstrate how the program operates, Dr Andrey Filchenkov, associate professor of Computer Technology Department at ITMO University, collected and analysed tweets of Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

Using this data, the AI confirmed that Obama was married, but concluded that Trump was a bachelor.

However, the researchers said that this irregularity can be explained, as Trump himself does not always update his own social media accounts.

'We all know about his wife Melania,' said the researcher, 'But in this case, we are studying whether all Trump's assistants are married or not.'

'We are not guessing who Trump is, but who runs his social media.'

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And experts claim that people modify their use of language to suit their partner.

'It's not just what you say, it's how you're saying it,' Dr Erica Slotter, an assistant professor at Villanova University's Department of Psychology, told Vice.

'We modify our vocal patterns to be closer to [those of] our desired partner. We try to make ourselves similar to them.'

The ITMO 'marital status' bot analysed social media users' location as well as their language to determine whether they were single.

It showed that single people are more likely to visit certain places at certain times of the day.

'For location data, the most valuable places are night clubs, universities, beaches, different sports places,' lead author Dr Kseniya Buraya, a researcher at ITMO, told Vice.

The team combined data from Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare to teach the system to make predictions.

To demonstrate how the program operates, the team collected and analyzed tweets of Barack Obama (pictured) and Donald Trump. Using this data, the AI confirmed that Obama was married, but concluded that Trump was a bachelor

To demonstrate how the program operates, the team collected and analyzed tweets of Barack Obama (pictured) and Donald Trump. Using this data, the AI confirmed that Obama was married, but concluded that Trump was a bachelor

To demonstrate how the program operates, Dr Andrey Filchenkov, associate professor of Computer Technology Department at ITMO University, collected and analysed tweets of Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

Using this data, the AI confirmed that Obama was married, but concluded that Trump was a bachelor.

However, the researchers said that this irregularity can be explained, as Trump himself does not always update his own social media accounts.

The study showed that single people are more likely to visit certain places at certain times of the day. Pictured are Jay-Z and Beyonce, who have been married for seven years

The study showed that single people are more likely to visit certain places at certain times of the day. Pictured are Jay-Z and Beyonce, who have been married for seven years

'We all know about his wife Melania,' said the researcher, 'But in this case, we are studying whether all Trump's assistants are married or not.'

'We are not guessing who Trump is, but who runs his social media.'

In order to train the algorithm to understand the data input, researches turned the social media activity of users in New York, Singapore and London into sets, or vectors, of such parameters as an average tweet size, the most frequent objects in the photo, check-in distribution and so on.

Then developers used these vectors in basic machine learning models.

One of the researches fed the data to the algorithm and then input the information into the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which is a scale of psychological types based on Jung theses.

Language use changes in a relationship when users stop referring to their bond as 'me and her' or 'me and you' and start using 'us' and 'we'. Pictured are Kanye West and Kim Kardashian who have been married for three years

Language use changes in a relationship when users stop referring to their bond as 'me and her' or 'me and you' and start using 'us' and 'we'. Pictured are Kanye West and Kim Kardashian who have been married for three years

When analysing the data, the scale describes a person in terms of how he or she interacts with the world, which is easiest to learn through their social media accounts.

'Many scientific sources associate a person psychological type with his marital status,' said Kseniya Buraya, a researcher at ITMO University's and co-author of the paper.

'So, we decided to check how precisely we can predict this parameter to use it for making human psychological portraits in the future'.

Aside from looking at relationships, user profiling, according to the scientists, can have a wide range of applications. 

For example, recruiters can learn more about people who are applying for a job. 

 

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