What if your Instagram profile picture says a lot more than you thought? In any case, this is the starting point of an exciting work being carried out by researchers at the Open University of Catalonia. Mohammad Mahdi Dehshibi, lead author of this study, is indeed convinced: “The way we present ourselves on social media can provide useful information about behaviors, personalities, perspectives, motivations, and needs.”
Selfie or group photo? Details are revealed on Instagram.
Therefore, scientists worked on an algorithm that works on a deep learning model. To create their artificial intelligence, they used a solid database of 30,000 images, captions and comments posted on Instagram. To avoid cultural bias, stories from Hispanic and Persian speakers were selected. Their analysis is based on the concept of choice theory proposed by the American psychiatrist William Glasser. According to him, people have five common needs: belonging, power, freedom, pleasure and survival. Therefore, and according to the personality of each of us, some of these needs are being sought at the moment, and it is precisely such a state of mind that would be possible discover by carefully observing our photos posted on Instagram. To explain the logic of this analysis, Mohammad Mahdi Dehshibi elaborates: “Imagine a cyclist climbing a mountain and at the top he can choose between a selfie and a group photo. If he chooses a selfie, we feel the need for power, but if he chooses another option, we can conclude that a person not only seeks to have fun, but also to satisfy son must belong.” Although we do not have any figures, this work provides a very stimulating line of work anyway and may, in particular, allow for improved diagnosis and treatment of people suffering from mental disorders. Please note that this is clearly not the first time the technology has been used to solve this kind of problem. To give just one example, two years ago we told you about this application, developed by Canadian researchers, that allows you to monitor the mental health of its users.
