Influence of personality traits on users’ viewing behaviour

Different views on the role of personal factors in moderating individual viewing behaviour exist. This study examined the impact of personality traits on individual viewing behaviour of facial stimulus. A total of 96 students (46 males and 50 females, age 23–28 years) were participated in this study. The Big-Five personality traits of all the participants together with data related to their eye-movements were collected and analysed. The results showed three groups of users who scored high on the personality traits of neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Individuals who scored high in a specific personality trait were more probably to interpret the visual image differently from individuals with other personality traits. To determine the extent to which a specific personality trait is associated with users’ viewing behaviour of visual stimulus, a predictive model was developed and validated. The prediction results showed that 96.73% of the identified personality traits can potentially be predicted by the viewing behaviour of users. The findings of this study can expand the current understanding of human personality and choice behaviour. The study also contributes to the perceptual encoding process of faces and the perceptual mechanism in the holistic face processing theory.