Digital Footprints of Personality: Sensing Emotional Competences, Sensory Processing Sensitivity, Well-Being and Loneliness via Smartphones
摘要
Smartphone sensing offers new possibilities to examine behavioral expressions of personality in everyday life. While most studies focus on the Big Five, less is known about how other psychological constructs manifest in passively sensed behaviors. This study examined whether emotional competences, sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), well-being, and loneliness are associated with smartphone-derived indicators of phone use (screen time, screen unlocks) and physical activity (step counts), and whether certain time windows are particularly informative. A sample of N = 189 (age M = 26.47, SD = 6.15, range = 18–49) adults in Switzerland completed baseline questionnaires and participated in a two-week smartphone sensing period. Screen time, screen unlocks, and step counts were aggregated across specific time windows (e.g., weekday mornings, weekend evenings). Correlational analyses tested associations between psychological traits and sensed behaviors. Interpersonal emotional competences were associated with less total screen time, weekday morning and weekend screen time, and fewer total screen unlocks. Adaptive emotion regulation was linked to more total and weekday evening steps, whereas maladaptive emotion regulation was consistently associated with more unlocks and increased screen time on weekday evenings. Participants with higher SPS took fewer total, weekday evening and weekend steps. Well-being manifested in greater total and weekday evening step counts, whereas loneliness was associated with fewer steps across most time windows and less screen time on weekday mornings. Traits and abilities beyond the Big Five are reflected in smartphone-sensed behaviors, highlighting the potential of smartphone sensing for capturing personality expression in daily life. Practical challenges of implementing smartphone sensing in psychological research are discussed.