Historical Facebook research · 256 personality profiles

Interests and COMPILER Personality Types

Declared interests describe the subjects and pursuits people choose to put on their profiles. The patterns below concern those recorded interests, rather than verified expertise or behavior.

Eight COMPILER dimensions define the type codes. The same weighted factor scores and fixed global cutoffs are applied to every category; only the recorded preference field changes.

119,285 profiles have usable data for this comparison. Type samples range from 18 to 2,225, with a median of 366.

246 of 256 types meet the 70-profile sample minimum. 199 have at least five qualifying distinctive entries; 7 have twenty.

These are historical, unadjusted associations, not individual predictions. A missing mention is not a dislike. Age, gender, geography and list length may contribute to differences.

Distribution of category sample sizes across the 256 personality types

Patterns with substantial differences

These examples require at least 25 mentions in a type of at least 300 profiles, in addition to the common screening rules. They are examples with larger cells, not a claim of independent replication.

Mathematics

: 3.8% list this entry, compared with 0.8% outside the type. That is 4.67 times the listing rate, a 3.0-percentage-point gap (31 of 816 profiles).

Philosophy

: 12.0% list this entry, compared with 3.2% outside the type. That is 3.81 times the listing rate, a 8.9-percentage-point gap (44 of 366 profiles).

Shopping

: 13.4% list this entry, compared with 3.7% outside the type. That is 3.64 times the listing rate, a 9.7-percentage-point gap (53 of 395 profiles).

The predefined 58-category hobby/interest catalog is searched only in the Interests field here. It is not combined with Activities. Some creative or intellectual interests overlap conceptually with questionnaire content.

Explore the 256 profiles

Personality type

Reading the eight letters

COMPILER uses the original proposed pole names below. These are provisional shorthand for broader dimensions, not clean logical opposites, abilities, diagnoses or judgments of worth.

Position	Higher factor score	Lower factor score	Meaning
1	C: Caregiving	A: Autonomy	Prioritizing care for others and family or close relationships.
2	O: Openness	T: Traditionalism	Intellectual, imaginative and artistic exploration.
3	M: Materialism	F: Frugality	Placing importance on appearance, money and expensive consumption, not actual wealth.
4	P: Prudence	S: Spontaneity	Orderliness, caution and deliberate self-control.
5	I: Intimacy	G: Guardedness	Emotional openness, accepting help and interpersonal trust.
6	L: Leadership	Y: Yielding	Wanting to lead or control and being comfortable with confrontation, not leadership skill.
7	E: Equanimity	V: Volatility	Emotional calm and steadiness rather than a strong need for reassurance.
8	R: Religiosity	N: Nonreligiosity	Religious faith and conventional restraint.

In particular, Autonomy does not mean an inability to care; Frugality is broader shorthand here than thrift alone; Leadership includes control/confrontation preferences rather than demonstrated skill.

What the comparison can establish

The catalog contains 58 entries. Distinctive rankings require at least 70 usable profiles in a type, 200 mentions overall, 10 in the type, 50 outside it, and at least three in each deterministic half. Listing-rate lift must be at least 1.25, the absolute gap at least 0.25 percentage points, and the direction positive in both halves.

Lift compares the selected type with everyone outside it in the same usable category cohort. Lists can contain fewer than twenty entries. The split-half rule screens consistency; it is not external validation or a multiple-testing guarantee. Larger ratios based on ten or twelve mentions remain uncertain.

Each person counts at most once per matched entry, but can match several entries. Common whole-field dislike/negation phrases are conservatively screened out of preference fields. Education concentrations are not dislike-screened. The matching catalogs are not exhaustive and may miss languages, aliases or prose descriptions.

The factor model combines 35 original trait scores. Each of its eight global cutoffs splits 253,717 eligible historical profiles into 126,859 higher and 126,858 lower scores. Marginal balance does not guarantee equal-sized combinations. The source spans 2008–2011; it is not a representative sample of current tastes or the general population.

Download aggregate rankings CSV · Aggregate results · Full scoring and matching methods

All 256 sample sizes

Type	Usable profiles	Qualifying entries
	2,225	21
	1,970	4
	1,916	19
	1,371	11
	1,327	19
	1,292	8
	1,285	16
	1,269	3
	1,249	11
	1,237	17
	1,164	5
	1,131	4
	1,115	11
	1,114	18
	1,091	16
	1,077	14
	1,068	21
	1,050	11
	1,020	5
	1,006	14
	978	12
	963	7
	951	17
	948	9
	943	12
	937	12
	927	8
	926	16
	921	12
	910	14
	896	9
	895	9
	883	18
	868	21
	855	19
	849	15
	847	18
	845	23
	826	5
	823	9
	817	10
	816	23
	814	20
	802	7
	797	8
	790	8
	771	2
	763	14
	748	13
	740	8
	737	20
	722	6
	712	9
	711	16
	696	2
	693	6
	678	4
	675	15
	665	8
	655	9
	653	15
	652	13
	648	16
	626	7
	625	5
	621	8
	609	16
	609	2
	604	17
	603	11
	602	8
	600	8
	594	12
	590	12
	590	14
	572	6
	568	9
	566	11
	565	18
	558	9
	552	8
	547	17
	545	5
	541	8
	539	9
	534	10
	521	9
	515	14
	515	14
	514	11
	512	10
	505	9
	493	14
	485	15
	475	8
	469	17
	465	13
	465	6
	455	13
	453	13
	446	16
	436	9
	435	7
	428	13
	428	16
	424	12
	421	6
	420	16
	420	11
	418	8
	412	8
	402	10
	400	13
	400	4
	395	7
	390	14
	389	14
	388	7
	387	15
	384	11
	380	7
	379	17
	378	10
	374	4
	373	10
	372	6
	366	16
	366	5
	365	6
	360	2
	359	3
	356	8
	356	8
	349	8
	346	8
	345	8
	343	6
	341	11
	337	12
	332	8
	329	6
	326	10
	325	14
	320	8
	319	8
	318	3
	311	10
	307	10
	305	11
	305	6
	304	9
	304	7
	304	6
	301	12
	300	7
	300	18
	299	11
	299	12
	294	10
	293	5
	290	8
	287	10
	287	16
	284	10
	280	3
	279	9
	276	8
	276	5
	275	12
	273	5
	273	9
	267	6
	262	7
	260	12
	257	13
	254	7
	253	15
	247	11
	247	10
	246	3
	237	4
	236	8
	236	13
	233	7
	228	3
	228	4
	227	7
	225	11
	224	5
	222	7
	222	9
	221	4
	219	5
	217	4
	215	3
	215	12
	215	3
	213	3
	211	6
	206	6
	204	0
	203	6
	198	5
	195	4
	193	10
	192	6
	192	3
	190	11
	190	9
	186	8
	186	3
	184	11
	173	2
	170	9
	169	6
	164	10
	164	7
	163	6
	161	4
	157	6
	154	11
	144	8
	143	0
	142	4
	138	2
	132	8
	131	11
	127	2
	123	3
	119	6
	117	3
	108	4
	108	3
	108	3
	105	6
	104	1
	100	3
	97	0
	96	2
	95	3
	93	0
	84	2
	78	7
	77	2
	77	2
	73	2
	67	0
	63	0
	55	0
	52	0
	52	0
	47	0
	46	0
	41	0
	26	0
	18	0

Find out your COMPILER type

Explore your profile with the experimental 63-item assessment: 56 new items and seven MOTIVES comparison items.

Take the COMPILER Short Test

Version 0.1. New-questionnaire scores are provisional and are not calibrated to the historical Facebook cutoffs.