Full text
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
h ps://doi.o g/10.1007/s10844-023-00810-3
RESEARCH
Pe sonali y ai analysis du ing he COVID-19 pandemic:
a compa a i e s udy on social media
Ma cos Fe nández-Pichel1·Ma io Ez a A agón1·Julián Sabo ido-Pa iño1·
Da id E. Losada1
Recei ed: 28 June 2023 / Re ised: 16 Augus 2023 / Accep ed: 17 Augus 2023
© The Au ho (s) 2023
Abs ac
The COVID-19 pandemic, a global con agion o co ona i us in ec ion caused by Se e e
Acu e Respi a o y Synd ome Co ona i us 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has igge ed se e e social and
economic dis up ion a ound he wo ld and p o oked changes in people’s beha io . Gi en
he ex eme socie al impac o COVID-19, i becomes c ucial o unde s and he emo ional
esponse o he people and he impac o COVID-19 on pe sonali y ai s and psychological
dimensions. In his s udy, we con ibu e o his goal by ho oughly analyzing he e olu ion o
pe sonali y and psychological aspec s in a la ge-scale collec ion o wee s ex ac ed du ing
he COVID-19 pandemic. The objec i es o his esea ch a e: i) o p o ide e idence ha helps
o unde s and he es ima ed impac o he pandemic on people’s empe amen , ii) o ind asso-
cia ions and ends be ween speci ic e en s (e.g., s ages o ha sh con inemen ) and people’s
eac ions, and iii) o s udy he e olu ion o mul iple pe sonali y aspec s, such as he deg ee
o in o e sion o he le el o neu o icism. We also examine he de elopmen o emo ions,
as a na u al complemen o he au oma ic analysis o he pe sonali y dimensions. To achie e
ou goals, we ha e c ea ed wo la ge collec ions o wee s (geo agged in he Uni ed S a es
and Spain, espec i ely), collec ed du ing he pandemic. Ou wo k e eals in e es ing ends
in pe sonali y dimensions, emo ions, and e en s. Fo example, du ing he pandemic pe iod,
we ound inc easing aces o in o e sion and neu o icism. Ano he in e es ing insigh om
ou s udy is ha he mos equen signs o pe sonali y diso de s a e hose ela ed o dep es-
sion, schizoph enia, and na cissism. We also ound some peaks o nega i e/posi i e emo ions
ela ed o speci ic e en s.
Keywo ds COVID-19 ·Social media ·Big-5 ·Pe sonali y analysis ·Emo ion analysis
1 In oduc ion
The Co ona i us disease ou b eak (COVID-19) began in Decembe 2019 and apidly sp ead
wo ldwide, causing millions o dea hs (Zhu e al., 2020). Mos people in ec ed wi h he i us
BMa cos Fe nández-Pichel
[email p o ec ed]
1Cen o Singula de In es igación en Tecnoloxías In elixen es (CiTIUS), Uni e si y o San iago de
Compos ela, Rúa Jena o de la Fuen e, San iago de Compos ela 15782, A Co uña, Spain
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
expe ienced mild o mode a e espi a o y illness and eco e ed wi hou equi ing special
ea men . Howe e , some indi iduals de eloped se ious symp oms and equi ed medical
a en ion (O ganiza ion, 2023). Olde people and hose wi h unde lying medical condi ions
we e mo e likely o de elop se e e illnesses. COVID-19 has caused a huge impac wo ldwide
on heal h sys ems, economies, and educa ion sys ems (O ganiza ion, 2020). A his poin ,
we s ill do no know how long his damage will las o when he wo ld will ully eco e .
The pandemic had a majo e ec on ou li es, and many people ha e been acing s ess ul
and o e whelming challenges. These s ess ac o s can cause changes in appe i e, ene gy,
desi es, and in e es s, and can c ea e eelings o ea , ange , sadness, wo y, numbness, o
us a ion. Lea ning o iden i y hese symp oms can help us o cope and manage heal hily.
The inc easing social media ac i i y p esen s an oppo uni y o s udy he e olu ion o
beha io al and pe sonali y ai s in a la ge p opo ion o he wo ld popula ion. Fo many
people, social li e does no only happen in hei su oundings o immedia e en i onmen .
In many cases, a conside able numbe o social in e ac ions ake place in i ual se ings
c ea ed by social media pla o ms like Facebook, Twi e , o Reddi . Since he beginning o
he pandemic, social media pla o ms a e inc easingly being used as an in o ma ion sou ce
(e.g., o be in o med abou isks and c ises) and publica ion channel (Reu e s, 2022).
Men al heal h has been a majo global conce n wi hin he las decades, bu psychological
p oblems ha e agg a a ed since he con inemen pe iod o he yea 2020 (Gup a e al., 2020).
Ha ing his in mind, he main mo i a ion o his wo k lies in he necessi y o u he s udy
he g ow h o his “psychological pandemic” and o aise public awa eness. Fo example, by
de eloping new sc eening ools able o in o m au ho i ies and he popula ion abou he impac
o he pandemic on pe sonali y dimensions. I is also impo an o ma ch psychological ai s
wi h speci ic e en s o ci cums ances ha happened du ing his di icul pe iod (e.g., ela ed
o ha sh con inemen s). In addi ion, analyzing he e olu ion o eelings and emo ions is a
na u al complemen o he s udy o pe sonali y dimensions.
We will ocus on wo collec ions o wee s e ie ed du ing he wo s pa o he pan-
demic pe iod (2020-2021). The wee s come om wo coun ies (USA and Spain), and we
es ima e he p e alence and e olu ion o speci ic pe sonali y ai s and diso de s on hese
wo la ge samples o social media en ies (10,234,223 and 17,395,598 wee s, espec i ely).
To ha end, we d aw om ecognized psychological ins umen s, such as he Big-5, which
de ines i e co e pe sonali y ac o s (ex a e sion, ag eeableness, openness o expe ience,
conscien iousness, and neu o icism) (Ba ick and Moun , 1991). We also epo on ho opics
ound in he published con en , wi h a pa icula ocus on hemes ha ha e igge ed con-
ce ns, pola ized emo ions, o ex eme eelings. We can summa ize ou main con ibu ions as
ollows:
1. Two publicly a ailable da ase s o wee s (abou gene al opics) ex ac ed du ing he mos
p oblema ic mon hs o he COVID-19 pandemic. The collec ions con ain wee s w i en
in English and Spanish and he wee s a e geo agged in USA o Spain, espec i ely. We
also make a ailable o he communi y a eposi o y o acili a e he ep oducibili y o he
expe imen s p esen ed in his s udy.1
2. A ho ough analysis o he p e alence and e olu ion o pe sonali y ai s in Twi e use s
om wo di e en coun ies (USA and Spain).
3. As udyo hee olu iono signso pe sonali ydiso de s(Schizoid,Dep essi e,A oidan ,
Dependen , His ionic, Na cissis ic, Compulsi e, Pa anoid, and Schizo ypal) du ing he
pandemic.
1h ps://gi hub.com/Ma cosFP97/COVID-19-Pe sonali y
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
4. A complemen a y epo o emo ions es ima ed om he wee s published du ing he
pandemic.
The emainde o he pape is o ganized as ollows. Sec ion 2, p esen s a b ie o e iew
o he ela ed wo k. Sec ion 3, desc ibes in de ail ou me hodology o c ea e he da a and ou
app oaches o analyze he publica ions. Sec ion 4 epo s he esul s and Sec ion 5p esen s a
discussion o he ob ained esul s and limi a ions o his wo k. Finally, Sec ion 6gi es some
concluding ema ks.
2 Rela ed wo k
In his sec ion, we discuss some ecen wo ks ela ed o social media analysis du ing he
pandemic pe iod. Di e en s udies ha e pe o med esea ch on he impac o COVID-19 on
people’s public and pe sonal li es. One o he mos popula s a egies consis s o mining
social media da a and measu ing conce ns o sen imen s (e.g., h ough publica ions pos ed
by people on hei social media accoun s). In Lyu e al. (2020), he au ho s sea ched o
wee s ha con ained e ms e e ing o he COVID-19 pandemic, such as “Chinese i us”
o “Wuhan i us”, and hen compa ed hem wi h wee s ha did no ha e hese wo ds. This
s udy e ealed di e ences in age, geoloca ion, and poli ical iews among he indi iduals who
pos ed hese wo ypes o wee s.
Voh a and Ga g (2023) pe o med sen imen analysis on Twi e da a con aining keywo ds
ela ed o wo king om home. A o al numbe o 358,823 wee s we e collec ed. The au ho s
i s labeled a subse o wee s using VADER and, nex , ained a Con olu ional Neu al
Ne wo k (CNN) o es ima e sen imen . They ound ha he majo i y o pos s had a posi i e
sen imen owa ds wo king om home.
An in e es ing s udy ha analyzes popula ion-le el dispa i ies du ing he pandemic was
p esen ed in Zhang e al. (2021). The au ho s i s collec ed a la ge-scale da ase om Twi e .
Then, hey di ided he da a among popula ion g oups and ex ac ed conce ns, sen imen s,
and emo ions. This wo k e ealed di e ences ega ding COVID-19 opics among popula ion
g oups ( o example, gende , and age). One o he indings was ha he popula ion g oup
composed o abo e 40-yea -old women was he g oup mos conce ned abou COVID-19.
This segmen o emales was mos conce ned abou economics and educa ion, while males
in he same age g oup we e mos conce ned abou poli ics and economics.
In ano he s udy, Alhuzali e al. (2022) collec ed wee s ela ed o COVID-19 om 48
di e en ci ies in he Uni ed Kingdom. The sen imen , emo ion, and opics o he wee s
we e examined using deep lea ning models like Sen icNe 6 and SpanEmo, wi h a combined
opic modeling app oach. The au ho s ound ha people’s a i udes and exp essions we e
highly posi i e a he beginning o 2020, bu s a ed o dec ease o e ime owa d he end
o 2021. This app oach can po en ially supply aluable cues abou how public policies a e
pe cei ed by people in di e en geog aphical a eas.
In a sligh ly di e en di ec ion, Umai and Mascia i (2023) explo ed he sen imen s o he
ci izens ela ed o he COVID-19 accina ion. This s udy pe o med sen imen and spa ial
analyses o ex ual pieces o e idence. The au ho s used he Tex Blob ool o es ima e he
pola i yo he ex sandca ego ized hem.Theyalsomapped heda aob ained ogeog aphical
loca ions o ge a global pic u e o people’s a i udes owa d accina ion. Simila ly, in Bo ah
(2023) a mul imodal deep lea ning me hod o Indian wee s classi ica ion was in oduced.
The goal was o es ima e popula ion’s hesi ancy owa ds accina ion h ough social media
pos s. The s udy e ealed ha con idence in accina ion inc eased wi h ime.
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Si e al. (2021) su eyed pos - auma ic s ess synd ome (PTSS) and sleep quali y among
esiden s in Wuhan and nea by ci ies. To ha end, a PTSS checklis o DSM-5 (Diagnos ic
and S a is ical Manual o Men al Diso de s) and ou ools om he Pi sbu gh Sleep Quali y
Index (PSQI) we e u ilized. The su ey e ealed a p e alence o PTSS a e he COVID-19
ou b eak and showed ha women su e ed mo e han men. Mo e speci ically, an ad e se
al e a ion in cogni ion and sleep quali y was associa ed wi h emales. The au ho s also ound
ha pa icipan s wi h be e sleep quali y epo ed lowe PTSS.
In Ahmad and Mu ad (2020), s udied how social media a ec s men al heal h and he
sp ead o panic abou COVID-19 in he Ku dis an Region o I aq. They ound ha social
media has a signi ican impac on sp eading ea and panic, and in luences nega i ely people’s
men al heal h. Young people, aged be ween 18 and 35, we e ound o be acing psychological
anxie y.
Resea che s in Se e al. (2022) in es iga ed he opic e olu ion o Twi e o he Republic
o Tu key in 2020. They analyzed 1.3 million wee s ela ed o he co ona i us be ween
Feb ua y 24, 2020, and May 2, 2020. The au ho s ound an inc ease in opics ela ed o
hygiene, li es yle, and anxie y. Inspi ed by he Wo ld Bank’s Po e y Moni o ing Technical
No e, hey also examined he e ec o income on con en sha ing. Acco ding o he au ho s’
es ima es, use s wi h a lowe g oss domes ic p oduc pe capi a end o sha e mo e news
ela ed o COVID-19 con en .
In Ainley e al. (2021), he eac ion o people o heal h and ca e deli e y in he Uni ed
Kingdom was s udied. The au ho s iden i ied he ollowing main hemes: access o emo e
ca e, quali y o emo e ca e, he an icipa ion o emo e ca e, online booking, asynch onous
communica ion, and publicizing changes o se ices o ca e deli e y. A he beginning o he
pandemic, he commen s we e posi i e bu his posi i e end dec eased o e ime wi h he
inc ease in es ic ions and COVID cases.
In he a ea o pe sonali y analysis, we can also ind app oaches o le e age da a ha is
sha ed on he In e ne on a daily basis. Fo example, deep lea ning app oaches show p omise
in pe sonali y classi ica ion when an ample amoun o da a is a ailable o aining (Leona di
e al., 2020;Die al.,2018). Howe e , hei limi ed explana o y unde s anding capabili ies
hinde specialis s om comp ehending he a ionale behind au oma ic p edic ions. To y o
sol e his, de-la Rosa e al. (2023) aimed o analyze language and disce n pe sonali y ai s
om sho communica ions by ha nessing in o ma ion ex ac ed om a men al lexicon. The
objec i e was o de elop a aluable ep esen a ion ha aids specialis s in unde s anding he
key a iables ha con ibu e o he analysis o an indi idual’s pe sonali y. This highligh s he
impo ance o explainabili y in his ype o ask.
As we can see abo e, o me s udies on social media du ing he pandemic ha e mainly
ocused on sen imen and emo ion analysis. These wo ks ha e essen ially explo ed he con-
ce ns ha people aise and hei impo ance. Following his line o hough , we expand his
ype o analysis by s udying pe sonali y ai s and pe sonali y diso de s. We es ima e he
p e alence and e olu ion o pe sonali y ai s and diso de s du ing he pandemic using Deep
Linguis ic echnologies. Ou wo k also di e s om he p e ious s udies by explici ly ela ing
he esul s ob ained o speci ic social e en s. To ha end, we pe o m ou analysis on a collec-
ion o wee s whose size is subs an ially la ge han he sizes conside ed by p e ious wo ks.
Mo eo e , he da a is geo agged in wo di e en coun ies and he c awling/ex ac ion p o-
cess was no biased owa ds speci ic keywo ds. We pe cei e he b oad scope o his esou ce
as a s eng h, as i p o ides o he esea ch eams wi h he oppo uni y o ca y ou a a ie y
o analyses. I also allows us o s udy cul u al di e ences and eac ions when handling a
p oblem o he magni ude o COVID-19. The collec ion and he code a e a ailable o he
communi y o es and euse.
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Fig. 1 Gene al iew o he sys em. We ex ac ed Twi e da a using Twin (sc apping ool) and, nex , we
pe o med mul iple epo s wi h complemen a y analy ical ools
3 Me hodology
In his sec ion, we p esen in de ail he s a egy implemen ed o collec ing wee s and we
desc ibe ou me hods o analyzing pe sonali y ai s, diso de s, and emo ions. Figu e 1
depic s an o e all iew o all he s eps in ol ed.
3.1 Da a collec ion
Fo collec ing da a, we employed Twin .2Twin o e s he possibili y o ex ac ing wee s
in a geolocalized manne . The p ocess consis s o choosing a cen al geog aphical poin ,
es ablishing a adius, and ob aining wee s om ha a ea. Fo ou s udy, he poin s cho-
sen we e Mad id and New Yo k ( o ep esen ing Spain and USA, espec i ely). A e he
ex ac ion, wee s we e classi ied by language,3and we only kep he English wee s om
he USA da ase and he Spanish wee s om he Spain da ase . Fo he da a p ocessing, we
pe o med a simple p e-p ocessing o he ex s by emo ing special cha ac e s like URLs,
@, and hash ags.
The USA da ase con ains wee s whose publica ion da es ange om Janua y 2020
o Augus 2021. The o al numbe o wee s is 10,234,223. The Spain da ase con ains
17,395,598 wee s (publica ion da es om Janua y 2020 o May 2021).
A subse o his da a is eely a ailable o he communi y o es and use.4We ha e
ca e ully espec ed Twi e ’s policy ega ding anonymiza ion and he maximum numbe o
pos s. Mo e speci ically, a he ime o c ea ing his collec ion, he limi s o Twi e es ablished
ha “you may only dis ibu e up o 1,500,000 Twee IDs o a single en i y wi hin a 30-day
pe iod”.5Those eade s in e es ed in he en i e da ase can con ac he au ho s, since his is
a gene ic da ase ha could be exploi ed o o he esea ch pu poses.
I is wo h men ioning ha we had some di icul ies du ing he cou se o he ex ac ion
s age. The Twin se ice was shu down du ing he de elopmen o his p ojec . This a ec ed
he e ie al o Spanish wee s. Mo e speci ically, o Spain’s da ase , he numbe o collec ed
wee s du ing he cen al pe iod o he pandemic (a ound 4,561 wee s pe week) a e less han
2h ps://gi hub.com/ win p ojec / win
3To ha end, we employed h ps://pypi.o g/p ojec /langde ec /.
4h ps://gi hub.com/Ma cosFP97/COVID-19-Pe sonali y/ ee/mas e /da ase
5h ps://de elope . wi e .com/en/de elope - e ms/mo e-on- es ic ed-use-cases
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
he numbe o collec ed wee s du ing he es o he imeline (a ound 345,849 wee s/pe
week o Spain and 159,948 wee s/pe week o he USA). This should be aken in o accoun
o he analysis, as ends du ing his pe iod show o en a la ge a iance. S ill, he o e all
collec ion o wee s is subs an ially la ge han hose employed in mos exis ing s udies.
3.2 Big-5 pe sonali y analysis
The main objec i e o his wo k is o unde s and he pe sonali y ai s and hei e olu ion in
Social Media use s du ing he COVID pandemic. Pe sonali y has been de ined (Funde , 1997)
as he “indi idual’s cha ac e is ic pa e ns o hough , emo ion, and beha io , oge he wi h
he psychological mechanism behind hose pa e ns”. Howe e , his de ini ion is oo gene al
and makes unde s anding indi idual di e ences in beha io and expe ience oo di icul .
In he a ea o Psychology, esea ch on pe sonali y, led by mul iple eams o esea che s,
eached a consensus on a gene al axonomy o pe sonali y ai s, named “Big Fi e” (John
and S i as a a, 1997). Pe sonali y analysis (Ba ick and Moun , 1991) using Big-5 builds
om a axonomy o classi ica ion p oposed in he 1980s. This model was de ined using ac o
analysis (Yong and Pea ce, 2013), and s udies he ela ionship be ween a la ge numbe o
e bal desc ip o s and pe sonali y ai s. The o iginal Big-5 model was p oposed by Digman,
and la e ex ended by Goldbe g (1993). These de ini ions ha e been ound o con ain he
majo i y o pe sonali y ai s and es ablish a solid s uc u e unde which pe sonali y can be
o mally s udied.
The i e ac o s iden i ied a e:
1. Openness o expe ience: app ecia ion o new emo ions, a s, o new and imagina i e
ideas.
2. Conscien iousness: esponsibili y, a endency o sel -discipline, and obedience.
3. Ex a e sion: app ecia ion o a b ead h o ac i i ies.
4. Ag eeableness: sympa hy o iendliness, conce n o social ha mony a he han indi-
idualism.
5. Neu o icism: he endency o expe ience nega i e emo ions such as anxie y o dep ession.
Following Neuman and Cohen’s 2014 me hodology, we build one ep esen a ion o
desc ibing he exis ence o each ac o and ano he ep esen a ion o desc ibing he opposi e
o each ac o . In his way, we can analyze ex s w i en by people and, gi en he e idence
ound, es ima e he le el o in ensi y o bo h sides o each pe sonali y ac o . Fo example,
we migh ack no only he e olu ion o ex a e sion ( he posi i e pole o he 3 d pe sonali y
ac o ) bu also he e olu ion o in o e sion, which would be ep esen ed as he nega i e
pole o he same pe sonali y ac o .
Table 1p esen s he pe sonali y ai s and some wo ds ela ed o each ac o (o o he
opposi e o each ac o ). The selec ion o wo ds ep esen ing each pole comes om p e ious
s udies on ec o ial seman ics o pe sonali y assessmen , which d ew om a lis o adjec i es
ela ed o he Big-5 dimensions (T apnell and Wiggins, 1990).
Addi ionally, o he analysis o pe sonali y diso de s, we employ a simila wo d-based
app oach o ep esen and ack each diso de . Table 2p esen s he acked pe sonali y dis-
o de s and he main adjec i es used o ep esen hem (ex ac ed om Millon e al. (2004)).
Fo ou i s analysis, ou objec i e was o s udy how di e en cha ac e is ics o people’s
pe sonali ies ha e e ol ed o e he pe iod o he pandemic. To ha end, we exploi he
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Table 1 Pe sonali y ai s:
Ex a e sion (E) Ag eeableness
(A) Conscien iousness (C)
Neu o icism (N) Openness o
expe ience (O)
ai s ep esen a i e wo ds
E-POSITIVE dominan , asse i e, au ho i a ian, o ce ul,
assu ed, con iden , i m, pe sis en
E-NEGATIVE ne ous, modes , quie , o celess, a aid, shy,
calm, indecisi e
A-POSITIVE ende ,gen le,so , kind,a ec iona e,help ul,
sympa he ic, iendly
A-NEGATIVE c uel, un iendly, nega i e, mean, b u al,
inconside a e, insensi i e, cold
C-POSITIVE o ganized, o de ly, idy, nea , e icien , pe sis-
en , sys ema ic, s aigh , ca e ul, eliable
C-NEGATIVE dis ac ed, un eliable, incompe en , wild,
ine icien ,disloyal, chao ic, con used,messy,
diso ganized
N-POSITIVE wo ied, s essed, anxious, ne ous, ea ul,
ouchy, guil y, insecu e, es less, emo ional
N-NEGATIVE balanced, s able, con iden , ea less, calm,
easygoing, elaxed,secu e, com o ed, peace-
ul
O-POSITIVE philosophical, abs ac , imagina i e, cu ious,
e lec i e, li e a y, ques ioning, indi idualis-
ic, unique, open
O-NEGATIVE na ow-minded,conc e e,o dina y,incu ious,
hough less, igno an , uneduca ed, common,
con en ional, es ic ed
axonomy o pe sonali y ai s p oposed wi hin he Big 5, and we analyze use s’ publica ions
acco ding o he i e pe sonali y ac o s (and hei co esponding opposi e poles).
The i s s ep o analyzing use da a consis s o con e ing he use ’s wee s o a ec o-
ial ep esen a ion. To ob ain his ep esen a ion we employ Sen ence-BERT (Reime s and
Gu e ych, 2019) a modi ica ion o he p e- ained BERT ne wo k ha uses ne wo k s uc u es
o de i e seman ically meaning ul sen ence embeddings. Sen ence-BERT was ained on he
combina ion o he SNLI and Mul i-gen e NLI da ase s. The SNLI collec ion (Bowman e al.,
2015) con ains sen ence pai s anno a ed wi h he labels con adic ion, en ailmen , and neu al.
The Mul iNLI da ase (Williams e al., 2018) is a collec ion ha con ains sen ence pai s and
co e s a ange o gen es o spoken and w i en ex . Sen ence-BERT has been shown o be a
Table 2 Pe sonali y diso de s diso de s ep esen a i e wo ds
schizoid indi e en , apa he ic, emo e, soli a y
dep essi e sad, dep essed, hopeless, gloomy, a alis ic
a oidan shy, e lec i e, emba assed, anxious
dependen helpless, incapable, passi e, imma u e
his ionic d ama ic, seduc i e, shallow, hype ac i e, ain
na cissis ic sel ish, a ogan , g andiose, indi e en
compulsi e es ained, conscien ious, espec ul, igid
pa anoid cau ious, de ensi e, dis us ul, suspicious
schizo ypal eccen ic, alien, biza e, absen
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
solid app oach o ep esen sho pieces o ex . We eed each wee o he model o ob ain
an embedding ep esen a ion.
The ec o ial ep esen a iono eachpe sonali y ac o (o i sopposi epole)isbuil om he
wo dlis p esen ed in Table1.Eachwo dis i s passed o helanguagemodel,whichp oduces
an embedding ep esen a ion o he wo d. This helps o o mally cap u e he seman ics o
he wo d and in e nally ep esen s he po en ial con ex s in which he wo d is used. Nex , he
pe sonali y ac o (o i s opposi e) is assigned a ec o ial ep esen a ion ha is he a e age o
he ec o s o he wo ds associa ed wi h he ac o . In his way, we can cap u e, o example,
aces o neu o icism (N-posi i e ec o ) based on he occu ence o wo ds and exp essions
seman ically ela ed o wo ies, s ess, anxie y, ne es, and so o h.
To es ima e he deg ee o p esence o a pe sonali y dimension in a wee , we use he cosine
simila i y be ween he ex and he dimension’s ep esen a ions. This echnique has p o en
o be e y obus in cap u ing seman ic meaning (Laska e al., 2020). Fo ep esen ing he
e olu ion o pe sonali y ai s, we plo a e age simila i ies pe week.
3.3 Topic analysis
An addi ional le el o analysis o he da a can be o ien ed o ex ac opic-o ien ed signals.
To ha end, we ha e pe o med a u he inspec ion o he collec ions wi h Empa h (Fas
e al., 2016). Empa h is a ool de eloped a he Uni e si y o S an o d o unde s anding opic
signals in la ge collec ions o ex . The o iginal e sion o Empa h was buil om a collec ion
o mo e han 1.8 billion wo ds and i es ima es he ela ionship be ween wo ds and ph ases
by exploi ing neu al embeddings and sophis ica ed language models. Gi en an inpu ex ,
Empa h can associa e i o 200 buil -in, p e- alida ed ca ego ies.
Fo he ex ac ion o opics, we wo ked wi h Empa h’s de aul ca ego ies and compu ed he
le el o p esence o each o hem in he wee s ( o each opic, he lib a y e u ns a sui abili y
sco e in [0,1]). Nex , we g ouped he wee s by week and plo ed he a e age alue o he
en mos salien ca ego ies. This app oach helps o e eal he mos p ominen opics in he
collec ions analyzed.
3.4 Emo ion analysis
Fu he e idence abou people’s pe cep ions can be ob ained h ough emo ion analysis, a
p ocess ha consis s o iden i ying and analyzing he unde lying emo ions exp essed in ex .
Emo ions a e pe asi e among humans and a e s udied in many ields like Psychology and
Neu oscience (Canales and Ma ínez-Ba co, 2014).
Using emo ions, we can ex ac addi ional clues abou people’s eelings and conce ns. By
measu ing emo ions du ing he COVID-19 pandemic, we can gain u he unde s anding on
he impac o his di icul pe iod on people’s li es.
To pe o m his analysis, we used EmoRoBERTa (Kim and Vossen, 2021), a ans o me
language model ained using a da ase o Reddi commen s. The commen s we e labeled
ollowing a lis o 28 emo ions. This model has been shown o ou pe o m al e na i e models
in mul iple emo ion de ec ion asks and i inco po a es a wide a ie y o emo ions. In Table 3,
we p esen some eal examples o wee s classi ied by his model.
Again, as o p e ious analysis, we ha e g ouped he wee s by week and we epo he
p opo ion o wee s pe week assigned o each emo ion.
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Table 3 Examples o wee s
classi ied by EmoRoBERTa Twee Emo ion
“Thank you cm m o his lo ely sha e” g a i ude
“Midge Tame Ano he eason I ha e ha guy” ange
“de as a ing news om my alma ma e onigh .” sadness
“Today is gonna be ha d.” disappoin men
“I can’ s op laughing a e alking o hese guys” amusemen
4 Analysis o esul s
4.1 Big-5
Le us indi idually analyze he pa e ns ob ained o each pe sonali y dimension. In his
Sec ion, we analyze how pe sonali y ai s a y o e ime. We i s ocus on Ex a e sion,
whichconsis so hegene al endency oexpe ienceposi i eemo ions,suchasbeing iendly,
li ely, and ac i e. In Fig. 2, we p esen he e olu ion o his ai h ough he pandemic
ime. In bo h coun ies (USA and Spain) he nega i e pole o his pe sonali y ac o was
dominan (highe line o E-NEGATIVE compa ed o E-POSITIVE). This esul sugges s ha
hemes ela ed o ne ousness, ea , o shame (E-NEGATIVE wo ds) we e mo e equen
han hose ela ed o E-POSITIVE (dominance, con idence, pe sis ence, e c). This pa e n
happens du ing he whole pe iod and, hus, i migh be a gene al ea u e o social media
a he han a special ea u e o he COVID-19 pe iod.
The USA lines a e a he la and, hus, do no e eal signi ican changes in pa e ns o
ex a e sion/in a e sion. The Spain lines (pa icula ly he E-nega i e pa e n) show a mo e
agi a ed beha io . Fo example, we can obse e highe e idence o ne es, ea , e c. in he
second semes e o 2020.
Ano he in e es ing ou come o his analysisis ha , o e all, he p esence o his pe sonali y
ac o ( ega dless o he o ien a ion owa ds ex a e sion o in a e sion) seems o be highe
in Spain. No e also ha he di e ence be ween ex a e sion (E-POSITIVE) and in a e sion
(E-NEGATIVE) is highe in he USA. So, he USA da ase does no appea o con ain oo
many ex a e sion/in a e sion- ela ed wee s bu hose wee s ha a e ac ually ela ed o his
pe sonali y ac o end o show e idence o ne es, ea , e c.
To u he analyze his ac o , we ook he 1000 wee s ha sco ed highes on E-
NEGATIVE (highes simila i y o he nega i e pole o his pe sonali y ac o ) and c ea ed a
wo d cloud wi h he mos p ominen wo ds (see Fig. 3).6In bo h coun ies, “ne ous” is he
dominan wo d, and he plo s also show wo ds ela ed o anxie y and ea . In Spain, we can
see ha wo ds like “calm” o “quie ” also had a high deg ee o occu ence. This ma ches wi h
he esul s epo ed in Fig. 2, whe e we saw ha , in Spain, he p esence o he E-POSITIVE
pole was no insigni ican .
Le us mo e o he second pe sonali y ai , Ag eeableness. Ag eeableness is a ai ha
desc ibes a pe son’s abili y o pu o he s’ needs be o e hei own. People wi h mo e ag ee-
ableness a e mo e likely o be empa he ic and wo k wi h people who need mo e help. Figu e 4
shows he esul s o his pe sonali y ac o . In his g aph, we can see ha , o bo h coun ies,
he nega i e pola i y o his pe sonali y ac o is g ea e han he posi i e one. In Spain, we
can obse e an inc ease o bo h poles (posi i e and nega i e) in he pe iod o June-July 2020,
6The Spanish wee s ha e been ansla ed in o English and he clouds p esen high- equency wo ds a e
ansla ion.
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Fig. 12 Es ima ed E olu ion o Pe sonali y Diso de s o USA and Spain
The second mos p e alen pe sonali y diso de is schizoid. This pe sonali y is a condi ion
in which people a oid social ac i i ies and consis en ly shy away om in e ac ion wi h o he s.
This ype o beha io is o be expec ed,as he con inemen ules and egula ions issued du ing
he pandemic led o isola ion among people. In ac , he blue lines (schizoid pa e n) g ew
du ing a co e pa o he pandemic (second semes e o 2020).
The hi d dominan pe sonali y diso de is na cissism, a pe sonali y cha ac e ized by a
high sense o sel -impo ance. In his case, indi iduals seek a lo o a en ion and a cons an
desi e o admi a ion.Du ing hepandemic, hispe sonali ymayha eg own due o he lack o
empa hy owa ds o he people. The high p e alence o na cissism also connec s wi h he high
es ima e o nega i e ag eeableness desc ibed abo e (high A-NEGATIVE). A-NEGATIVE is
indeed connec ed o being unempa he ic and unhelp ul o o he s.
In mid-2020 we can see a ma ked inc ease in mos diso de s and, o Spain, we can
no ice a sha p decline a he beginning o 2021. USA pa e ns also show a dec ease in mos
diso de s in la e 2020/beginning o 2021, bu he decline is smoo he . As a gued abo e, he
Spain da ase has ewe da a poin s o he cen al pe iod o 2020 and, hus, he Spain lines
a e mo e ola ile. Howe e , he plo o he USA and he plo o Spain essen ially e eal he
same ends, ein o cing he insigh s ex ac ed om his analysis.
The leas dominan pe sonali y diso de s a e dependen and obsessi e-compulsi e. These
a e ela ed o a need o ha e o he people ake ca e o hem o a desi e o ha e e e y hing
o ganized.
To complemen his analysis, in Table 5, we p esen he wee s wi h he highes alues o
he h ee mos p e alen diso de s.7One o he hings we can no ice abou hese wee s is
ha , usually, people exp ess hei discom o in sho ex s. Fo example, Na cissis ic diso de
is usually associa ed wi h wee s e e ing o someone being sel ish o a ogan . Mo eo e ,
Appendix Ashows a complemen a y analysis o all ai s in a single plo pe coun y ha
allows isualising he ela i e p e alence be ween hem.
Table 6gi es an o e all iew o he main ends de i ed om he analysis o pe sonali y
diso de s.
7The Spanish wee s ha e been ansla ed in o English and he able p esen s he ansla ed wee .
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Table 5 Pe sonali y Diso de s Diso de Twee s
USA
dep ession “Dep essed ”
“being dep essed”
“oh dea I’m so hopelessly dep essed oday”
“Hopeless wo ld”
schizoid “apa he ic NY Awhile”
“Me mood”
“Feeling ha e ul”
“yea ning”
na cissis ic “Sel ish bas a d”
“BE SELFISH”
“Sel ish. Absolu ely sel ish.”
“Call me sel ish cause I go me and nobody else ”
Spain
dep ession “Hopeless”
“Wha sadness”
“Dep essed bu ”
“Ch onic sadness.”
schizoid “Apa he ic”
“D ama mood”
“Feeling Alone.”
“The indi e ence? I hu o me”
na cissis ic “Ayyy Sel ishness”
“Sel ish, e y sel ish and bad.”
“An a ogan , a ogan , p oud, sel ish...”
“Look who’s alking abou indi e en sel ishness...”
“Being indi e en nowadays”
Example o wee s
Table 6 Pe sonali y diso de s
analysis The mos p e alen pe sonali y diso de s du ing he ime o he pan-
demic we e dep essi e, schizoid, and na cissis ic in bo h coun ies
Dep ession is es ima ed o be he mos salien , ollowed by
schizoph enia and na cissism
The leas dominan pe sonali y diso de s a e dependen and
obsessi e-compulsi e
Mid-2020: inc ease in mos diso de s in bo h coun ies
La e 2020/beginning o 2021: decline in mos diso de s in bo h coun-
ies
Tendencies (up o down) a e smoo he in USA
Main ends ound
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
4.3 Empa h
Nex , we con inue wi h he p esen a ion o he opic-based esul s ob ained wi h Empa h.
Figu e 13 epo s, o bo h coun ies, he mos salien opics ex ac ed by Empa h. A i s
obse a ion is ha emo ions, ei he posi i e o nega i e, a e he mos p ominen opics.
Nega i e emo ions weigh mo e han posi i e emo ions in bo h coun ies.
In he USA sample, we can obse e a peak o nega i e emo ions in June 2020 and a
highe p esence o nega i e emo ions du ing he second semes e o 2020. The Spain plo
shows mo e a iance bu i essen ially e lec s he same end. Compa ing he op 10 Empa h
ca ego ies in bo h coun ies we can also obse e o he opics ha a e also common o USA
and Spain: iends, op imism, communica ion, pa y, and child en.
In he USA plo , mos o he lines a e a he la , and pe haps we can only obse e a
sligh dec ease in iends and op imism in he las qua e o 2020. The Spain lines a e mo e
chao ic and di icul o g asp. S ill, he e seems o be a highe p esence o con en ela ed o
iends, speaking, and op imism du ing he second semes e o 2020. In any case, he mos
appa en conclusion om hese plo s is he high p esence o emo ions in bo h coun ies and
he occu ence o some o he common opics ( iends, op imism, communica ion, pa y, and
child en).
We ha e u he analyzed he peaks o nega i e emo ions (see Table 7, which p esen s
he high- equency wo ds in he wee s yielding nega i e emo ions). In he USA, we obse e
a peak in he i s week o June 2020. This is mainly ela ed o Geo ge Floyd’s dea h, and
we obse e he e he p esence o emo ional bea ing wo ds such as “pissed” o “ho ible”.
A second nega i e peak, in Augus 2020, is also pa ially ela ed o he Black Li es Ma e
mo emen bu we also ind he e nega i e exp essions abou 2020 and he pandemic (“ ucking
ha e 2020”, “hell 2020” o “co id”).
In Spain, we obse e a sha p ise in nega i e emo ion in he i s week o June 2020.
Acco ding o he mos equen wo ds, he heme o Black Li es Ma e is also salien in
hese wee s. The second inc ease in nega i e emo ions happened in Oc obe 2020 and, aking
in o accoun he mos ecu ing wo ds (e.g., “ eedom”, “c y”, “ i us”, o “go e nmen ”),
hese emo ions seem o be ela ed o he co ona i us and o he es ic ions imposed by he
go e nmen .
Table 8gi es an o e all iew o he main ends de i ed om he analysis pe o med wi h
Empa h.
Fig. 13 Empa h opics o USA and Spain
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Table 7 High- equency wo ds du ing he peaks o nega i e emo ions
Da e Lis o wo ds
USA
1s week o June 2020 sad, ha e, s upid, c azy, ca e, sick, dead, lie, dea h, ho ible, c y, mad, sca ed,
wo ied, insane, pain, pissed, shi , guil y, con used, li e, ump, ang y, bi ch,
u ah, police, killing, dying, cop, acciden , uck w ong, shocked, makes sick,
sho ,s opc ying,s upidpeople,supe , ideo, need s op, s o y,o ice , ucking
c azy, ucking sick
Las week o Augus 2020 s op, ha e, ha d, ump, sad, w ong, hell, back, lo e, shi , hi , c azy, black,
police, li e, wo k, s a e, eason, oday, yea , dead, whi e, igh , s upid, dea h,
killed, b eak, lie, alone, ne ada, mad, wo s , nigh , wo ld, incompe ence,
egula ions, hu , hope, home, go e nmen , amily, imes, coun y, ame ica,
sho , cops, pain, 2020, co id
Spain
1s week o June 2020 e dad, ida, mundo, miedo, eeuu, mie da, gobie no, polic, odio, 2020,
usa, mue e, culpa, mad e, ju o, casa, iolencia, ascis a, is e, do mi ,
mo i , e güenza, eliz, locu a, loco, llo ando, democ acia, ump, s op, pais,
amilia, causa, bande a, lucha , mue os, acismo, e o is a
2nd week o Oc obe 2020 mal, peo , españa, pu o, mala, mundo, odio, jode , llo a , mo i , is e,
mien en, casa, u ina, i us, pa ido, pode , gen uza, libe ad, locos, sola,
sin e güenza, ho ible, g i o, gobie no, de echa, clase, payaso, pa idos,
nacional, malos, mad id, lucha
4.4 Emo ion analysis
Figu e 14 p esen s he dis ibu ion o emo ions. The mos dominan emo ions a e simila in
bo h coun ies. Fo example, he emo ions o app o al and admi a ion a e he op 2 emo ions
in USA and Spain. O he salien emo ions ha a e common o bo h coun ies a e amuse-
men , cu iosi y, lo e, g a i ude, joy, exci emen , sadness, and ange . The ela i e p esence o
hese emo ions a ies sligh ly om coun y o coun y. Fo example, he USA sample shows
la ge pe cen ages o wee s exp essing amusemen , lo e, sadness, o exci emen , while he
Spain sample shows la ge pe cen ages o wee s exp essing g a i ude o ealiza ion. In bo h
coun ies, we can obse e ha he leas equen emo ions a e ela ed o emo se, p ide,
emba assmen , ne ousness, elie , and g ie .
Table 8 Empa h analysis Emo ions, ei he posi i e o nega i e, a e he mos p ominen opics
Nega i e emo ions weigh mo e han posi i e emo ions in bo h coun-
ies
USA, Spain: a peak o nega i e emo ions in June 2020 and a highe
p esence o nega i e emo ions du ing he second semes e o 2020
Besides emo ions, o he common opics a e: iends, op imism, com-
munica ion, pa y and child en
June 2020 nega i e peaks: ela ed o Geo ge Floyd’s dea h
O he nega i e peaks e lec ci izens’ conce ns abou co id and
es ic ions
Main ends ound
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Fig. 14 Dis ibu ion o emo ions, USA and Spain
Le us ocus now on he mos equen emo ions and hei empo al analysis. Figu e 15
p esen s he weekly e olu ion o he op 10 emo ions. The emo ions o admi a ion and
app o al we e dominan h oughou he en i e pe iod o he pandemic in he USA.
Fo example, in he USA, we obse e wo main peaks o ange , one o hem in June 2020
and ano he one in Janua y 2021. This coincides wi h he p e iously conduc ed opic analysis,
whe e we saw an inc ease o nega i e eelings associa ed wi h Geo ge Floyd’s dea h. Ano he
emo ion ha shows a signi ican peak is g a i ude, which had a la ge inc ease in bo h coun ies
a ound he Ch is mas da es. This sugges s ha people ended o sha e eelings o app ecia ion
despi e he di icul ies. In Spain, he emo ions o cu iosi y and sadness domina ed du ing
he cen al pa o he pandemic, while he emo ions o g a i ude and admi a ion ended o
dec ease conside ably du ing a la ge pa o 2020.
The emo ion o exci emen is ela ed o he pe sonali y ac o o “Ex a e sion”. I is
in e es ing o no ice ha , o bo h coun ies, we can obse e a d op in Ma ch 2020 and, nex ,
a sligh endency o inc ease du ing he emainde o he pandemic. This pa e n ma ches wi h
ha o “Ex a e sion”, whe e we also saw a d op a he beginning o he pandemic ollowed
by a slow eco e y.
Table 9gi es an o e all iew o he main ends de i ed om he emo ion analysis.
Fig. 15 E olu ion o emo ions, USA and Spain
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Table 9 Emo ion Analysis The wo mos salien emo ions a e app o al and admi a ion
O he equen emo ions in bo h coun ies a e amusemen , cu iosi y,
lo e, g a i ude, joy, exci emen , sadness, and ange
The leas equen emo ions a e ela ed o emo se, p ide, emba ass-
men , ne ousness, elie , and g ie
USA: admi a ion & app o al dominan h oughou he en i e pe iod
Spain: cu iosi y & sadness high and g a i ude & admi a ion low du -
ing he 2nd semes e o 2020
USA: wo main peaks o ange , in June 2020 and Janua y 2021
USA, Spain: d op in exci emen a he beginning o he pandemic
ollowed by a slow eco e y
Main ends ound
5 Discussion and limi a ions
Ou s udy has e ealed in e es ing ends in pe sonali y ac o s, diso de s, emo ions, and he
associa ed opics and e en s. The analysis o he wo poles o he 5 pe sonali y dimensions
has exposed some consis en indings. Fo example, in bo h samples, we could obse e he
p e alence o he nega i e poles o ex a e sion (ne ous, a aid, ...), ag eeableness (c uel,
un iendly, ...), and conscien iousness (dis ac ed, un eliable, ...). These h ee poles somehow
ep esen he un a o able side o hese 3 Big-5 ac o s. On he o he hand, he p e alence o
he nega i e pole o neu o icism (balanced, s able, ...) and he posi i e pole o openness o
expe ience (philosophical, abs ac , ...) a e be e news, as hese wo poles eco d a o able
aspec s o pe sonali y. Rega ding empo al ends, we ha e obse ed some nega i e changes
o e he pe iod analyzed. Fo example, he Spain sample in o ms o an inc ease in neu o icism
(N-POSITIVE goes up), in o e sion (E-NEGATIVE goes up), lack o conscien iousness (C-
NEGATIVE goes up), and closeness o expe ience (O-NEGATIVE goes up) in he second
semes e o 2020. The USA ends also e eal some conce ning e olu ion du ing 2020,
wi h an inc ease in neu o icism (N-POSITIVE goes up) and lack o conscien iousness (C-
NEGATIVE goes up), and a dec ease in ag eeableness (A-NEGATIVE goes up).
Ou analysis also sugges s ha he mos p e alen pe sonali y diso de s a e dep ession,
schizoph enia, and na cissism (in bo h coun ies). The p esence o signs o hese diso de s
inc eased in mid-2020 and had a decline in la e 2020/beginning o 2021.
The analysis o Empa h opics showed a high p esence o emo ional publica ions, wi h a
gene al p e alence o nega i e emo ions o e posi i e ones, and he occu ence o peaks o
nega i e emo ions ela ed o COVID-19 and Geo ge Floyd’s dea h.
By p ocessing he da a agains a ine-g ained ca ego iza ion o 28 ypes o emo ions, we
obse ed ha admi a ion and app o al a e he mos dominan emo ions. S ill, we also see
he e some signs o conce n. Fo example, in he USA, he e we e wo peaks o ange (June
2020 and Janua y 2021) and a dec ease in exci emen a he beginning o he pandemic. In
Spain, we also obse e he same dec ease in exci emen and, u he mo e, highe signs o
sadness and lowe signs o g a i ude and admi a ion du ing he second semes e o 2020.
The s udy p esen ed he e has po en ial limi a ions. The es ima es epo ed a e based on
wo samples o wee s ex ac ed a speci ic geog aphical loca ions. The wo collec ions a e
la ge bu , s ill, a e only e lec i e o he p eoccupa ions o speci ic segmen s o he USA
o Spain popula ions. Fu he mo e, we canno claim ha his gi es a pic u e o he en i e
popula ion in hese a eas, because he samples a e ob iously biased owa d people who a e
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
ac i e on a speci ic social media pla o m. In any case, we i mly belie e ha his ype o
social media analysis p o ides aluable insigh s in o a signi ican pa o he popula ion. The
Spain sample, because o echnical di icul ies wi h he ex ac ion ool, has ewe da a poin s
du ing he second pa o 2020. S ill, we ha e ocused ou analysis on he common ends
and we a e awa e ha some s ong luc ua ions obse ed in he plo s a e ela ed o he size
o some weekly samples.
Ano he main limi a ion comes om he es ima ion me hods. In hese collec ions, we
do no ha e a g ound u h o pe sonali y labels, diso de s, o emo ions. We a he ely
on epu ed ools, such as deep linguis ic models, emo ion de ec o s, Empa h, and so o h.
This undoub edly in oduces noisy es ima ions abou he p esence o signs o pe sonali y,
diso de s, opics, o emo ions. S ill, hese ools ha e been es ed elsewhe e and his ype o
socialmedia moni o ing migh e o speci icda apoin sbu ends o be eliable a iden i ying
ela i e ends and hei empo al e olu ion.
6 Conclusions
In his pape , we ha e c ea ed and made a ailable o he communi y wo la ge collec ions o
wee s published du ing he agi a ed pe iod o he pandemic. These se s o wee s come om
wo coun ies: USA and Spain. Gi en his la ge sample o publica ions, we ha e pe o med
a compa a i e analysis o pe sonali y ac o s and diso de s, opics, and emo ions.
We ha e been able o obse e how di e en e en s ha e in luenced he esponse o he
people and we ha e iden i ied speci ic ime ames when emo ions o pe sonali y ac o s
su e ed subs an ial changes. Fo example, nega i i y a ose no only because o COVID-19
bu also because o o he majo e en s ha happened in hese wo u bulen yea s.
We can conside social ne wo ks as a well-es ablished sou ce o in o ma ion om which
we can ex ac aluable knowledge and d aw a pa ial bu use ul iew o he eelings o he
popula ion. The syne gies be ween heal h and web/social mining ha e been explo ed o a
numbe o yea s (e.g., o designing new sc eening echnologies). Howe e , we s ill need o
iden i y he speci ic ole ha echnology can play in suppo ing men al heal h p o essionals.
This ype o applica ion is s ill in i s in ancy and ou pape has add essed some moni o ing
ac i i ies ha could be pa o u u e pe sonali y/sen imen /emo ion analyze s. Fo example,
a gi en public ins i u ion migh be in e es ed in acking ce ain segmen s o he popula ion
and ale abou he onse o some ypes o isks. In he nea u u e, we plan o con ac wi h
ele an s akeholde s, such as ained psychologis s and o he men al heal h p o essionals,
o alida e his echnology and o explo e u u e ways o exploi a ion.
As u u e wo k, we a e also in e es ed in expanding he s udy o o he da a sou ces and
pla o ms. I would be s imula ing o compa e mul iple in o ma ion sou ces and social ne -
wo ks o ex ac he in ensi y o emo ions, pe sonali y aspec s, and opics and see how hey
di e o e sou ces.
Appendix A: Ex a pe sonali y ai analysis
To complemen he pe sonali y ai analysis and unde s and which ac o is mo e p e alen ,
Figs.16and17p esen he e olu iono all ai s h ough ime.Wecansee ha henega i epole
is dominan in bo h coun ies and ha he ai s ela ed o conscien iousness and ex a e sion
ha e he g ea es p esence.
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Fig. 16 Big-5 analysis du ing he COVID-19 pandemic o USA
Fig. 17 Big-5 analysis du ing he COVID-19 pandemic o Spain
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Au ho Con ibu ions Concep ualiza ion: [all au ho s]; Me hodology: [all au ho s]; Fo mal analysis: [all
au ho s]; In es iga ion: [all au ho s]; Da a cu a ion: [Julian Sabo ido-Pa i˜
ño, Ma cos Fe nández-Pichel, Ma io
Ez a A agón]; Valida ion: [Ma cos Fe nández-Pichel, Ma io Ez a A agón]; W i ing - o iginal d a p epa a-
ion: [Ma io Ez a A agón]; W i ing - e iew and edi ing: [Da id E. Losada, Ma cos Fe nández-Pichel, Ma io
Ez a A agón]; Supe ision: [Da id E. Losada, Ma io Ez a A agón]; P ojec adminis a ion: [Da id E. Losada].
Funding Open Access unding p o ided hanks o he CRUE-CSIC ag eemen wi h Sp inge Na u e.
The au ho s hank he suppo ob ained om: i) p ojec PLEC2021-007662 (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/50
1100011033, Minis e io de Ciencia e Inno ación, Agencia Es a al de In es igación, Plan de Recupe ación,
T ans o mación y Resiliencia, Unión Eu opea-Nex Gene a ionEU), ii) p ojec PID2022-137061OB-C22
(Minis e io de Ciencia e Inno ación, Agencia Es a al de In es igación, P oyec os de Gene ación de
Conocimien o; supppo ed by he Eu opean Regional De elopmen Fund) and iii) Conselle ía de Educación,
Uni e sidade e Fo mación P o esional (acc edi a ion 2019-2022 ED431G-2019/04, ED431C 2022/19) and
he Eu opean Regional De elopmen Fund, which acknowledges he CiTIUS-Resea ch Cen e in In elligen
Technologies o he Uni e si y o San iago de Compos ela as a Resea ch Cen e o he Galician Uni e si y
Sys em.
Da a and Code a ailabili y The da ase s and codes gene a ed du ing and/o analyzed du ing he cu en s udy
a e a ailable om he co esponding au ho on easonable eques .
Decla a ions
E hics app o al No applicable
Consen o pa icipa e No applicable
Consen o publica ion No applicable
Compe ing in e es s The au ho s ha e no compe ing in e es s o decla e ha a e ele an o he con en o
his a icle.
Open Access This a icle is licensed unde a C ea i e Commons A ibu ion 4.0 In e na ional License, which
pe mi s use, sha ing, adap a ion, dis ibu ion and ep oduc ion in any medium o o ma , as long as you gi e
app op ia e c edi o he o iginal au ho (s) and he sou ce, p o ide a link o he C ea i e Commons licence,
and indica e i changes we e made. The images o o he hi d pa y ma e ial in his a icle a e included in he
a icle’s C ea i e Commons licence, unless indica ed o he wise in a c edi line o he ma e ial. I ma e ial is
no included in he a icle’s C ea i e Commons licence and you in ended use is no pe mi ed by s a u o y
egula ion o exceeds he pe mi ed use, you will need o ob ain pe mission di ec ly om he copy igh holde .
To iew a copy o his licence, isi h p://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by/4.0/.
Re e ences
Ahmad, A. R., & Mu ad, H. R. (2020). The impac o social media on panic du ing he co id-19 pandemic in
i aqi ku dis an: Online ques ionnai e s udy. J Med In e ne Res, 22(5), e19556. h ps://doi.o g/10.2196/
19556
Ainley, E., Wi wicki, C., Talle , A., e al. (2021). Using wi e commen s o unde s and people’s expe iences
o uk heal h ca e du ing he co id-19 pandemic: Thema ic and sen imen analysis. J Med In e ne Res.
h ps://doi.o g/10.2196/31101
Alhuzali, H., Zhang, T., & Ananiadou, S. (2022). Emo ions and opics exp essed on wi e du ing he co id-19
pandemic in he uni ed kingdom: Compa a i e geoloca ion and ex mining analysis. J Med In e ne Res,
24(10). h ps://doi.o g/10.2196/40323
Ba ick, M. R., & Moun , M. K. (1991). The big i e pe sonali y dimensions and job pe o mance: A me a-
analysis. Pe sonnel Psychology, 44, 1–26. h ps://doi.o g/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1991. b00688.x
Bo ah, A. (2023). De ec ing co id-19 accine hesi ancy in india: a mul imodal ans o me based app oach.
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems, 60(1), 157–173. h ps://doi.o g/10.1007/s10844-022-00745-
1
123
Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems
Bowman, S. R., Angeli, G., Po s, C., e al. (2015). A la ge anno a ed co pus o lea ning na u al language
in e ence.In: P oceedings o he2015 Con e enceon Empi icalMe hodsin Na u al LanguageP ocessing.
Associa ion o Compu a ional Linguis ics. Lisbon, Po ugal. h ps://doi.o g/10.18653/ 1/D15-1075
Canales, L., & Ma ínez-Ba co, P. (2014). Emo ion de ec ion om ex : A su ey. P ocessing in he 5 h
In o ma ion Sys ems Resea ch Wo king Days (JISIC).h ps://doi.o g/10.3115/ 1/W14-6905
Di, X., Li a, W., Zheng, H., e al. (2018). Deep lea ning-based pe sonali y ecogni ion om ex pos s o online
social ne wo ks. Applied In elligence, 48,. h ps://doi.o g/10.1007/s10489-018-1212-4
Fas , E., Chen, B., & Be ns ein, M. S. (2016). Empa h: Unde s anding opic signals in la ge-scale ex . In:
P oceedings o he 2016 CHI Con e ence on Human Fac o s in Compu ing Sys ems. Associa ion o
Compu ing Machine y. New Yo k, NY, USA, CHI ’16. h ps://doi.o g/10.1145/2858036.2858535
Funde , D.C. (1997). The pe sonali y puzzle. W W No on & Co
Goldbe g, L. R. (1993). The s uc u e o pheno ypic pe sonali y ai s. Ame ican Psychologis .h ps://doi.o g/
10.1037/0003-066X.48.1.26
Gup a, R. K., Vishwana h, A., & Yang, Y. (2020). COVID-19 wi e da ase wi h la en opics, sen imen s and
emo ions a ibu es. CoRR abs/2007.06954. a Xi :2007.06954
John, O. P., & S i as a a, S. (1997). The big i e ai axonomy: His o y, measu emen , and heo e ical
pe spec i es. L. A. Pe in & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook o pe sonali y: Theo y and esea ch
Kim, T., & Vossen, P. (2021). Emobe a: Speake -awa e emo ion ecogni ion in con e sa ion wi h obe a.
h ps://doi.o g/10.48550/ARXIV.2108.12009
Laska , M. T. R., Huang, X., & Hoque, E. (2020). Con ex ualized embeddings based ans o me encode o
sen ence simila i y modeling in answe selec ion ask. In: P oceedings o The 12 h Language Resou ces
and E alua ion Con e ence
Leona di, S., Mon i, D., Rizzo, G., e al. (2020) Mul ilingual ans o me -based pe sonali y ai s es ima ion.
In o ma ion 11(4). h ps://doi.o g/10.3390/in o11040179
Lyu, H., Chen, L., Wang, Y., e al. (2020). Sense and sensibili y: Cha ac e izing social media use s ega ding
he use o con o e sial e ms o co id-19. IEEE T ans Big Da a, 7, 952–960. h ps://doi.o g/10.1109/
TBDATA.2020.2996401
Millon, T., Millon, C., & Meaghe , S. (2004). B ie desc ip ion o he ou een pe sonali y diso de s o dsm-iii.
DSM-III-R: Tech. ep.
Neuman, Y., & Cohen, Y. (2014). A ec o ial seman ics app oach o pe sonali y assessmen . Scien i ic epo s,
4(1), 1–6. h ps://doi.o g/10.1038/s ep04761
O ganiza ion WH (2020). Impac o co id-19 on people’s li elihoods, hei heal h, and ou ood sys-
em. h ps://www.who.in /news/i em/13-10-2020-impac -o -co id-19-on-people’s-li elihoods- hei -
heal h-and-ou - ood-sys ems. Accessed 06 Jan 2023
O ganiza ion WH (2023). WHO co ona i us disease (COVID-19) dashboa d. h ps://co id19.who.in /.
Accessed 06 Jan 2023
Reime s, N., & Gu e ych, I. (2019). Sen ence-be : Sen ence embeddings using siamese be -ne wo ks. In:
P oceedings o he 2019 Con e ence on Empi ical Me hods in Na u al Language P ocessing. Associa ion
o Compu a ional Linguis ics. a Xi :1908.10084
Reu e s (2022). Digi al news epo 2022. h ps:// eu e sins i u e.poli ics.ox.ac.uk/digi al-news- epo /2022.
Accessed 06 Jan 2023
de-la Rosa, G. R., Jiménez-Salaza , H., Villa o o-Tello, E., e al. (2023). A lexical-a ailabili y-based amewo k
om sho communica ions o au oma ic pe sonali y iden i ica ion. Cogni i e Sys ems Resea ch, 79,
126–137. h ps://doi.o g/10.1016/j.cogsys.2023.01.006
Se , E., Okan, O., Özbilen, A., e al. (2022). Linking co id-19 pe cep ion wi h socioeconomic condi ions
using wi e da a. IEEE T ansac ions on Compu a ional Social Sys ems, 9(2), 394–405. h ps://doi.o g/
10.1109/TCSS.2021.3089657
Si, M. Y., Su, X. Y., Jiang, Y., e al. (2021). P e alence and p edic o s o p sd du ing he ini ial s age o co id-19
epidemic among emale college s uden s in china. INQUIRY: The Jou nal o Heal h Ca e O ganiza ion,
P o ision, and Financing 58, 00469580211059953. h ps://doi.o g/10.1177/00469580211059953
T apnell, P. D., & Wiggins, J. S. (1990). Ex ension o he in e pe sonal adjec i e scales o include he big i e
dimensions o pe sonali y. J Pe s Soc Psychol, 59,. h ps://doi.o g/10.1037/0022-3514.59.4.781
Umai , A., & Mascia i, E. (2023). Sen imen al and spa ial analysis o co id-19 accines wee s. Jou nal o
In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems, 60(1), 1–21. h ps://doi.o g/10.1007/s10844-022-00699-4
Voh a, A., & Ga g, R. (2023). Deep lea ning based sen imen analysis o public pe cep ion o wo king om
home h ough wee s. Jou nal o In elligen In o ma ion Sys ems, 60(1), 255–274. h ps://doi.o g/10.
1007/s10844-022-00736-2
Williams, A., Nangia, N., & Bowman, S. (2018). A b oad-co e age challenge co pus o sen ence unde s and-
ing h ough in e ence. In: P oceedings o he 2018 Con e ence o he No h Ame ican Chap e o he
Associa ion o Compu a ional Linguis ics: Human Language Technologies, Volume 1 (Long Pape s).
123