You may be smart if you ‘like’ Mozart and curly fries on Facebook
What do Facebook users who “like” Mozart, Morgan Freeman’s voice, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and curly fries have in common? They are likely to have high IQs, according to a new study.
Meanwhile, those who like Facebook pages related to mountain biking, business administration, engineering and the book “48 Laws of Power” are apt to be calm and relaxed, the study found.
These and other patterns emerged from an analysis of 58,000 Facebook users and the things that prompted them to click the little blue thumbs-up icon. Researchers from the University of Cambridge discovered that these likes alone could reveal many things about a person, including gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political preference and religion. Their findings were published online Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
One question they did not answer was why smart people find curly fries so appealing.
We have a complete story about this study coming soon. (It will be online here.) In the meantime, here are some more examples of patterns of likes that were linked to specific traits:
You might be satisfied with life if you “like” Jesus Christ, Indiana Jones, swimming and Sarah Palin.
You might be conservative if you “like” ESPN2, NASCAR, Oklahoma State University and “The Bachelor.”
You might be competitive if you “like” Julius Caesar, Sun Tzu, Prada and knives.
You might be a gay man if you “like” Kathy Griffin, Adam Lambert, Human Rights Campaign and the musical “Wicked.”
You might be “old” if you “like” Dr. Mehmet Oz, Freedomworks and “The Closer.”
You might not have many friends if you “like” Iron Maiden, Minecraft, “The Dark Knight” and In-N-Out Burger. (A lot of Southern Californians will have to ponder that one.)
Want to see how well Facebook knows you? Take the test at YouAreWhatYou Like.com.
You can read the full study online here.
Return to the Science Now blog.
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