Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly being utilized by both candidates and employers in the recruitment context. However, with this comes numerous ethical concerns, particularly related to the lack of transparency in these "black-box" models. Although previous studies have sought to increase the transparency of these models by investigating the personality traits of LLMs, many of the previous studies have provided them with personality assessments to complete. On the other hand, this study seeks to obtain a better understanding of such models by examining their output variations based on different input prompts. Specifically, we use a novel elicitation approach using prompts derived from common interview questions, as well as prompts designed to elicit particular Big Five personality traits to examine whether the models were susceptible to trait-activation like humans are, to measure their personality based on the language used in their outputs. To do so, we repeatedly prompted multiple LMs with different parameter sizes, including Llama-2, Falcon, Mistral, Bloom, GPT, OPT, and XLNet (base and fine tuned versions) and examined their personality using classifiers trained on the myPersonality dataset. Our results reveal that, generally, all LLMs demonstrate high openness and low extraversion. However, whereas LMs with fewer parameters exhibit similar behaviour in personality traits, newer and LMs with more parameters exhibit a broader range of personality traits, with increased agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness. Furthermore, a greater number of parameters is positively associated with openness and conscientiousness. Moreover, fine-tuned models exhibit minor modulations in their personality traits, contingent on the dataset. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Do Personality Traits Interfere? Geometric Limitations of Steering in Large Language Models
Network Analysis and Social Influence Modelling (NASIM) Lab(网络分析与社会影响建模实验室);School of Physics Maths and Computing(物理数学计算学院);The University of Western Australia(西澳大学);School of Computing(计算学院);Macquarie University(麦觉瑞大学)
Predicting the Big Five Personality Traits in Chinese Counselling Dialogues Using Large Language Models
Zhejiang University(浙江大学);School of Engineering, Westlake University(西湖大学工程学院);Westlake University(西湖大学);School of Early Childhood Education, Hangzhou Polytechnic(杭州职业技术学院幼儿教育学院)
Evaluating Personality Traits in Large Language Models: Insights from Psychological Questionnaires
School of Physics, Mathematics and Computing(物理、数学与计算学院);University of Western Australia(西澳大学);School of Computing(计算机学院);School of Psychological Sciences(心理科学学院)
Neuron-based Personality Trait Induction in Large Language Models
Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence, Renmin University of China(中国人民大学首都人工智能学院);Tongyi Lab(通义实验室);Institute of Statistics and Big Data, Renmin University of China(中国人民大学统计与大数据研究院)
The Dark Patterns of Personalized Persuasion in Large Language Models: Exposing Persuasive Linguistic Features for Big Five Personality Traits in LLMs Responses
Warsaw University of Technology(华沙理工大学);University of Warsaw(华沙大学)
Personality Vector: Modulating Personality of Large Language Models by Model Merging
Department of Human-Artificial Intelligence Interaction, Sungkyunkwan University(人类-人工智能交互系,成均馆大学);Department of Immersive Media Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University(沉浸式媒体工程系,成均馆大学)
Beyond BFI: The CSI for Enhanced Reliability and Validity in Evaluating LLM Personality Traits
University of Illinois Chicago(伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校);Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院自动化研究所);Microsoft Research Asia(微软亚洲研究院);North Carolina State University(北卡罗来纳州立大学)