Evaluating the performance of personality-based profiling in predicting physical activity

Abstract Background Profiling or clustering individuals based on personality and other characteristics is a common statistical approach used in marketing, medicine, and social sciences. This approach improves data simplicity, supports the implementation of a data-driven decision-making process, and...

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Main Authors: Kentaro Katahira, Keisuke Takano, Takeyuki Oba, Kenta Kimura
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2024-12-01
Series:BMC Psychology
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-02268-6
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author Kentaro Katahira
Keisuke Takano
Takeyuki Oba
Kenta Kimura
author_facet Kentaro Katahira
Keisuke Takano
Takeyuki Oba
Kenta Kimura
author_sort Kentaro Katahira
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Profiling or clustering individuals based on personality and other characteristics is a common statistical approach used in marketing, medicine, and social sciences. This approach improves data simplicity, supports the implementation of a data-driven decision-making process, and guides intervention strategies, such as personalized care. However, the clustering process involves loss of information owing to the discretization of continuous variables. Although any loss of information may be practically or pragmatically acceptable, the amount of information lost and its influence on predicting external outcomes have not yet been systematically investigated. Methods We assessed the accuracy of predicting physical activity using the clustering approach and compared it with the dimensional approach, where variables are used as continuous regressors. This analysis is based on survey data from a sample of 20,573 individuals regarding physical activity and psychological traits, including the Big-Five personality traits. Results A four-cluster solution, supported by the standard criterion for determining the number of clusters, achieved no more than 60–70% prediction accuracy of the dimensional approach employing the raw dimensional scale as explanatory variables. Conclusion The cluster solution suggested by conventional statistical criteria may not be optimal when clusters are used to predict external outcomes.
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spelling doaj-art-27c8fc55c1ea4d198ab8547d6dcc8e642025-08-20T02:31:51ZengBMCBMC Psychology2050-72832024-12-0112111310.1186/s40359-024-02268-6Evaluating the performance of personality-based profiling in predicting physical activityKentaro Katahira0Keisuke Takano1Takeyuki Oba2Kenta Kimura3Human Informatics and Interaction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)Human Informatics and Interaction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)Human Informatics and Interaction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)Human Informatics and Interaction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)Abstract Background Profiling or clustering individuals based on personality and other characteristics is a common statistical approach used in marketing, medicine, and social sciences. This approach improves data simplicity, supports the implementation of a data-driven decision-making process, and guides intervention strategies, such as personalized care. However, the clustering process involves loss of information owing to the discretization of continuous variables. Although any loss of information may be practically or pragmatically acceptable, the amount of information lost and its influence on predicting external outcomes have not yet been systematically investigated. Methods We assessed the accuracy of predicting physical activity using the clustering approach and compared it with the dimensional approach, where variables are used as continuous regressors. This analysis is based on survey data from a sample of 20,573 individuals regarding physical activity and psychological traits, including the Big-Five personality traits. Results A four-cluster solution, supported by the standard criterion for determining the number of clusters, achieved no more than 60–70% prediction accuracy of the dimensional approach employing the raw dimensional scale as explanatory variables. Conclusion The cluster solution suggested by conventional statistical criteria may not be optimal when clusters are used to predict external outcomes.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-02268-6Physical activityPersonalityClusteringProfilingPrediction
spellingShingle Kentaro Katahira
Keisuke Takano
Takeyuki Oba
Kenta Kimura
Evaluating the performance of personality-based profiling in predicting physical activity
BMC Psychology
Physical activity
Personality
Clustering
Profiling
Prediction
title Evaluating the performance of personality-based profiling in predicting physical activity
title_full Evaluating the performance of personality-based profiling in predicting physical activity
title_fullStr Evaluating the performance of personality-based profiling in predicting physical activity
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating the performance of personality-based profiling in predicting physical activity
title_short Evaluating the performance of personality-based profiling in predicting physical activity
title_sort evaluating the performance of personality based profiling in predicting physical activity
topic Physical activity
Personality
Clustering
Profiling
Prediction
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-02268-6
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