Science's Advancements in Predicting Your Life

In July of 2022, researchers Gal Lavi, Jonathan Rosenblatt and Michael Gilead published in the journal Scientific Reports on the viability of their new method of predicting human behavior.

The team created a 5-dimensional personality summary called the "Predictive Five" (PF). It outperformed the latest predictive personality model known as the "Five-Factor Model" (FFM) on two independent validations as well as a validation by an independent group of psychologists.

The PF promises to provide a simple personality representation which is highly able to predict behavior. This is critical because it allows professionals to better predict risks like suicide, as well as advise useful guidance such as career paths and relationships.

Until recently, the FFM had been the consensus best option for explaining the core dimensions of human personality. It assumed that regardless of language, culture and other traits, people's FFM score is stable over time and valid no matter how the test is taken.

However, the PF has shown more reliable results than the FFM and is better able to predict outcomes in the future, such as depression, risky behavior and workplace performance.

The PF was tested using the myPersonality dataset collected between 2006 and 2012. It guided users through validated psychological tests such as versions of the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) questionnaire.

Data was collected from 397,851 participants (210,279 females, 142,497 males, and 44,805 did not identify). They all answered all 100 questions. Their mean age was 25.7 years old.

The variables on the test include intelligence, satisfaction, self-transcendence, openness to change, empathy, depression, riskiness, illegal behaviors, politics and social networking.

More reliably than the FFM, the PF was able to predict a diverse set of psychological outcomes - thoughts, feelings and behaviors across different life contexts. The PF was even capable of something known as "retrodiction" (guessing past experiences).

All in all, this new methodology is a groundbreaking finding in the scientific field of personality and prediction of human behavior. In theory, it could save lives, marriages and more.