FACULTY OF COMPUTING, ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY USER PROFILING ON THE BASIS OF INTERACTIONS WITH A COMPUTER GAME SIMON BILLINGS JANUARY 2013 Adapting computer software to the individual user during run-time could offer substantial advantages over the current practice of tailoring software to groups of users during the development process (Stewart 2007; Charles et al. 2005; Charles & Black 2004; Houlette 2004). In order to achieve this, the computer requires information about the user, yet its ability to perceive them is severely limited (Suchman 2006 p.167; Fisher 2001). In an effort to address this shortcoming, this dissertation examines the potential for determining an individual’s personality through analysis of their interactions with commercial computer games – which, in common with cinema and literature, work on an underlying model of reality – as well as their performance in game elements using an underlying general intelligence factor, and their emotional state from visual and physiological cues. Through a program of original primary research, it demonstrates that data pertaining to several of the big five personality factors can be captured from interactions with a commercial computer game, and explores methods for predicting these personality traits using regression analysis and clustering techniques. It also employs a series of factor analyses to investigate the latent variables present in interactions with a computer role-playing game, as a foundation for further work. A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF STAFFORDSHIRE UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PAGE│I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish acknowledge, with immense gratitude, my debt of thanks to Dr. Len Noriega for his counsel, aid, and encouragement; to my family and friends for supporting me during the writing of this dissertation; and to Dr. Clive Chandler, Dr. Margaret Watkin, Dr. Steve Hickey, Dr. David Clark-Carter, Dr. Stella Mills, and all the members of the university faculty, and other institutions, who have graciously shared their expertise with me. PAGE│II CONTENTS TITLE .…………………………………………………………………………… I ABSTRACT .……………………………………………………………………… I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT …………………………………………………………… II CONTENTS .……………………………………………………………………… III CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………… 1 1. INTRODUCTION ..…………………………………………………………… 2 1.1. INTELLECTUAL CHALLENGE ..………………………………………… 4 1.2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...………………………………………… 5 1.2.1. KEY TERMS ...…………………………………………………… 5 1.2.2. AIMS ..…………………………………………………………… 6 1.2.3. OBJECTIVES ...…………………………………………………… 7 1.2.4. DELIVERABLES ..………………………………………………… 8 1.2.5. SCHEDULE .……………………………………………………… 10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .…………………………………………… 11 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………………………… 12 2.1. COMPUTER GAMES AS A MEDIUM ..……………………………………… 13 2.2. THE DETERMINATION OF EMOTIONS ..…………………………………… 14 2.2.1. A CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE OF EMOTION ..…………………… 15 2.2.1.1. ANGER AND AGGRESSION ...…………………………………… 16 2.2.1.2. MOODS ...……………………………………………………… 18 2.2.2. THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM AND EMOTION ..……………… 18 2.2.3. SENSOR BASED DETERMINATION EMOTION ...……………………… 21 2.2.4. RECOGNISING EMOTIONS ...………………………………………… 21 2.2.5. COGNITION AND EMOTION .………………………………………… 25 2.2.6. SUMMARY ..………………………………………………………… 25 2.3. PSYCHOMETRICS ………………………………………………………… 28 2.3.1. LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS ...………………………………………… 28 2.3.2. VALIDITY ...………………………………………………………… 29 2.3.3. ABILITY ASSESSMENT ……………………………………………… 32 2.3.3.1. GENERAL INTELLIGENCE ……………………………………… 34 PAGE│III 2.3.3.2. ASSESSMENT CENTRES ...……………………………………… 35 2.3.4. THEORIES OF PERSONALITY ………………………………………… 36 2.3.4.1. THE PSYCHOANALYTICAL APPROACH ………………………… 36 2.3.4.2. THE BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH ..……………………………… 37 2.3.4.3. THE HUMANISTIC APPROACH .………………………………… 37 2.3.4.4. THE COGNITIVE APPROACH …………………………………… 38 2.3.5. PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT ...……………………………………… 38 2.3.5.1. PERSONALITY TRAITS .………………………………………… 39 2.3.5.2. FIVE ROBUST FACTORS ..……………………………………… 40 2.3.5.3. PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES ...…………………………………… 42 2.3.6. INSTRUMENT CONSTRUCTION .……………………………………… 43 2.3.6.1. THE RATIONAL THEORETICAL APPROACH ..…………………… 44 2.3.6.2. THE FACTOR ANALYTICAL APPROACH ...……………………… 44 2.3.6.3. THE EMPIRICAL CRITERION KEYING APPROACH ……………… 45 2.3.7. THE COMPUTERISATION OF PSYCHOMETRIC INSTRUMENTS ...……… 46 2.3.8. SUMMARY ..………………………………………………………… 47 CHAPTER 3: MATERIALS & METHODS ...……………………………………… 50 3. MATERIALS & METHODS .……………………………………………… 51 3.1. OVERVIEW …………………………………………………………… 51 3.1.1. STATISTICAL POWER .…………………………………………… 52 3.1.2. STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES ……………………………………… 53 3.2. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS …...……………………………………… 53 3.3. EXPERIMENT STRUCTURE ..…………………………………………… 54 3.4. ACTIVITY DESIGN .…………………………………………………… 56 3.5. INSTRUMENT DESIGN ………………………………………………… 58 3.6. SAMPLE SELECTION ...………………………………………………… 61 3.7. DATA CAPTURE .……………………………………………………… 62 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION ....……………………………………… 66 4. ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION ..………………………………………………… 67 4.1. DATA CLEANSING .…………………………………………………… 67 4.1.1. DATA CAPTURE ISSUES .………………………………………… 67 PAGE│IV 4.1.2. MISSING DATA ..………………………………………………… 70 4.1.3. DATA TRANSFORMATION ..……………………………………… 72 4.2. SAMPLE DEMOGRAPHICS ...…………………………………………… 74 4.3. CORRELATION ANALYSIS ..…………………………………………… 76 4.4. FACTOR ANALYSIS …………………………………………………… 79 4.4.1. RESULTS: EXTRAVERSION .……………………………………… 84 4.4.2. RESULTS: CONSCIENTIOUSNESS .………………………………… 87 4.4.3. RESULTS: OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE …………………………… 89 4.4.4. RESULTS: COMBINED BFI FACTORS ..…………………………… 91 4.4.5. RESULTS: SUMMARY .…………………………………………… 94 4.5. REGRESSION ANALYSIS .……………………………………………… 96 4.6. CLUSTERING ..………………………………………………………… 97 4.6.1. RESULTS: CLASSIFIERS ..………………………………………… 99 4.6.2. RESULTS: SUMMARY .…………………………………………… 101 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS .…………………………………………………… 104 5. CONCLUSIONS ...…………………………………………………………… 105 5.1. FURTHER WORK ……………………………………………………… 111 CHAPTER 6: GLOSSARY ...……………………………………………………… 113 6. GLOSSARY ………………………………………………………………… 114 CHAPTER 7: REFERENCES ...…………………………………………………… 118 7. REFERENCES .……………………………………………………………… 119 7.1. BIBLIOGRAPHY ..……………………………………………………… 131 APPENDICES APPENDIX A: EXPERIMENT MATERIALS ...…………………………………… 132 PERSONA EXPERIMENT: BIG FIVE INVENTORY .…………………………… 133 PERSONA EXPERIMENT: PARTICIPANT DETAILS ...………………………… 134 PERSONA EXPERIMENT: OBSERVATION FORM ..…………………………… 136 APPENDIX B: RAW DATA ..…………………………………………………… 140 APPENDIX C: CLEANSED DATA .……………………………………………… 149 APPENDIX D: EXPANDED FACTOR ANALYSIS MATRICES ..…………………… 160 PAGE│V FIGURES FIGURE 1.2.5A – RESEARCH SCHEDULE ……………………………………… 10 FIGURE 2A– LITERATURE REVIEW DOMAINS AND SUB-DOMAINS …………… 12 FIGURE 2.2A – THE JAMES LANGE THEORY OF EMOTION .…………………… 14 FIGURE 2.2B – THE SCHACHTER & SINGER THEORY OF EMOTION …………… 15 FIGURE 2.2.1.1A – AGGRESSION AS A BIOLOGICAL DRIVE …………………… 16 FIGURE 2.2.1.1B – AGGRESSION AS A LEARNED RESPONSE ..………………… 17 FIGURE 2.2.1.1.C – FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE IMPULSIVE AGGRESSION ..… 15 FIGURE 2.2.4A – SENSOR POSITIONS DURING FACIAL ELECTROMYOGRAPHY ... 22 FIGURE 2.2.4B – COMPUTER VISION: KINECT & PRIMESENSE ..……………… 23 FIGURE 2.2.4C – AN IDEAL FACIAL EXPRESSION ANALYSIS SYSTEM ...……… 24 FIGURE 2.3.2A – LOW FACE VALIDITY: G.O.A.T. …………………………… 30 FIGURE 2.3.2B – HIGH FACE VALIDITY: MMPI–2 …………………………… 30 FIGURE 2.3.2C – PERFECT CRITERION ORIENTED VALIDITY .………………… 32 FIGURE 2.3.2D – TYPICAL CRITERION ORIENTED VALIDITY .………………… 32 FIGURE 2.3.4A – GENERAL INTELLIGENCE (G) ..……………………………… 34 FIGURE 2.3.4B – A HIERARCHICAL INTELLIGENCE MODEL ...………………… 34 FIGURE 2.3.4C – RAVEN‟S PROGRESSIVE MATRICES EXAMPLE QUESTION ...… 35 FIGURE 2.3.5.2A – THE FIVE FACTOR MODEL AS USED IN THE NEO PI-R …… 41 FIGURE 2.3.5.3A – RORSCHACH INK BLOT …………………………………… 42 FIGURE 2.3.5.3B –THEMATIC APPERCEPTION CARD .………………………… 42 FIGURE 2.3.5.3C – SANITY IN CLOCK TOWER 3 .……………………………… 43 FIGURE 2.3.5.3D – SANITY IN FAHRENHEIT ...………………………………… 43 FIGURE 2.3.8A – SILENT HILL: PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILING WARNING ……… 48 FIGURE 2.3.8B – SILENT HILL: PSEUDO PSYCHOMETRIC INSTRUMENT .……… 48 FIGURE 3.3A – EXPERIMENT STRUCTURE ..…………………………………… 56 FIGURE 3.4A – OBSERVATION FORM: COMPUTER GAME ACTIVITY ..………… 58 FIGURE 3.5A – THE BIG FIVE INVENTORY .…………………………………… 59 FIGURE 3.5B – QUESTIONNAIRE: PARTICIPANT DETAILS ...…………………… 60 FIGURE 3.7A – RECRUITMENT E–MAILS ...…………………………………… 64 FIGURE 4.1A – DATA CLEANSING PROCESS .…………………………………. 67 FIGURE 4.1.1A – NAME INPUT INTERFACE …………………………………… 68 FIGURE 4.1.2A – PRELIMINARY COMBAT SCENARIO .………………………… 70 PAGE│VI FIGURE 4.1.2B – PROMPT INFORMING THE PLAYER OF STATUS MENUS ……… 71 FIGURE 4.1.3A – PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION: PERSONALITY FACTORS ...…… 73 FIGURE 4.1.3B – TESTS OF NORMALITY: PERSONALITY FACTORS .…………… 73 FIGURE 4.2A – GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS: AGE & GENDER .…………… 74 FIGURE 4.2B – DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS & BOX PLOT: AGE & GENDER ..…… 75 FIGURE 4.2C – BOX PLOT: EXPERIENCE WITH COMPUTER RPGS ..…………… 76 FIGURE 4.3A – CORRELATIONS (Τ) & BINOMIAL PROBABILITIES ..…………… 77 FIGURE 4.4A – STATISTICAL POWER: MULTIPLE LINEAR REGRESSION .……… 79 FIGURE 4.4B – PREDICTOR SELECTION: STATISTICAL APPROACH .…………… 82 FIGURE 4.4C – PREDICTION SELECTION: THEORETICAL APPROACH ..………… 82 FIGURE 4.4D – FACTOR EXTRACTION: CATTELL‟S SCREE TEST ……………… 83 FIGURE 4.4E – PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS PROCESS ...………………. 84 FIGURE 4.4.1A – FACTOR ANALYSIS: EXTRAVERSION (THEORETICAL) .……… 85 FIGURE 4.4.1B – FACTOR ANALYSIS: EXTRAVERSION (STATISTICAL) ..……… 86 FIGURE 4.4.2A – FACTOR ANALYSIS: CONSCIENTIOUSNESS (THEORETICAL) … 88 FIGURE 4.4.2B – FACTOR ANALYSIS: