LIWC paper (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (Luke))
LIWC is a software which turns raw text into structured psychological variables. It is a psycholinguistic dictionary, mapping words to to pre-defined psychological constructs / categories. The purpose is to process the text and understand the underlying psychological semantics. An example may be the notion that a journal entry with large numbers of achievement-related vocabulary (i.e. succeed, path, vision, accomplish, goals) would be scored in such relevant areas. More nuanced interpretations can also be accounted for. For example, a high usage of he first-person pronouns in relation to objective, descriptive language (i.e. it was, that is, it may be) may indicate a higher levels of self-focus and personal accountability which are directly indicative of personality and character.
Psycholinguistic libraries generally map language into dimensions / categories which matter psychologically, i.e. emotional valence (positive vs. negative), cognitive processes (thinking, analysing etc.). LIWC processes text input (journal entry, tweet, blog, transcript), breaks down the text into tokens (words) and compares them with it’s psycholinguistic dictionary, making note of matches (with in-built leniency). Rather than noting occurrences or a raw count, LIWC calculates the percentages for the the various categories. LIWC generates a profile of the text-category percentages for each dimension, giving a quantitative snapshot of a text’s psychological characteristics.
OCEAN paper (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism)
The OCEAN Framework (Big Five Model) is a model of personality that organises personality traits into five broad dimensions.
The OCEAN framework has become foundational in personality psychology research because it’s empirically robust—these five dimensions consistently emerge across different cultures, languages, and assessment methods. It provides a common language for researchers to discuss and measure personality differences.
Openness to Experience
Refers to a person’s tendency to be curious, creative, and open to new ideas and experiences. People high in openness enjoy abstract thinking, appreciate art and imagination, and are willing to try novel things. People low in openness tend to be more practical, conventional, and prefer routine.
Conscientiousness
Describes how organised, disciplined, and goal-directed a person is. Those high in conscientiousness are planners who follow through on commitments, pay attention to details, and are generally reliable. Those low in conscientiousness tend to be more spontaneous, flexible, and sometimes less organised or punctual.
Extraversion
Captures how outgoing, energetic, and social a person is. Extraverts seek out social interaction, enjoy being the centre of attention, and tend to be talkative and assertive. Introverts (those low in extraversion) are more reserved, prefer smaller social groups or solitude, and recharge through quiet time.
Agreeableness
Relates to how cooperative, compassionate, and concerned with others a person is. Highly agreeable people are empathetic, trusting, and prioritise harmony in relationships. Those low in agreeableness may be more competitive, critical, or independent-minded.
Neurotiscm
(sometimes called “Emotional Stability” when framed in the opposite direction) Measures emotional reactivity and vulnerability to negative emotions. People high in neuroticism experience anxiety, sadness, or irritability more readily. Those low in neuroticism tend to be calm, resilient, and emotionally stable.
Data encoding
OCEAN traditional method
Traditionally, OCEAN ‘scores’ are mapped through self reporting. An industry standard questionnaire is the BFI questionnaire (Big Five Inventory) with 44 questions covering the five dimensions broadly. Participants answer questions in relation to self, typically on the Likert scale (1 Strongly Disagree - 5 Strongly Agree).
For example :
- “I am the life of the party” (Extraversion)
- “I get stressed out easily” (Neuroticism)
- “I am always prepared” (Conscientiousness)
- “I sympathize with others’ feelings” (Agreeableness)
- “I have a rich vocabulary” (Openness)
Items are scored and averaged to produce a score for each dimension. The OCEAN efficacy meta-analysis details the reliability and consistency of the BFI-OCEAN methods of psychological mapping across many studies from 1991-2024 (Nov). The meta-analysis from BMC Psychology found that “the BFI and the first comparison between its two different versions, the BFI (44 items) and the BFI-2 (60 items). The generalized reliability of both the BFI and BFI-2 were established. The findings confirm that the BFI and BFI-2 have good reliability across all five factors.”
Journaling
Journal comes from the Old French “journal,” which derives from the Latin “diurnalis,” meaning “daily” (from “diurnus,” relating to the day). It originally referred to a daily record or account. Journaling has evolved beyond a factual daily-log, now encompassing practices of reflection, emotional processing, creative writing and therapeutic practice.
Journaling serves multiple purposes depending on how it’s practised. On a practical level, it helps with memory consolidation and organisation—writing things down clarifies thinking. Emotionally, it’s been shown to reduce stress and anxiety by externalising worries and processing difficult experiences. There’s research suggesting it improves mental health outcomes, particularly when people write about emotionally significant events or engage in reflective writing.
From a cognitive perspective, journaling can enhance self-awareness. The act of articulating thoughts and feelings—even to yourself—creates distance and perspective. It can also facilitate problem-solving by helping you work through challenges on the page. Some people use it creatively or spiritually for self-discovery and meaning-making.
- Cognitive processing through writing
- Neural processing through expressive writing
- Writing to learn
- Automatic extraction of personality (Big Data Conf)
Journaling Methods
The practice of journaling takes many forms. Some common written journaling methods can be found below :
Stream of Consciousness is probably the most basic—you simply write whatever comes to mind without censoring, editing, or worrying about coherence or grammar. The goal is unfiltered expression rather than polished prose. There’s no structure; you follow your thoughts wherever they lead.
Reflective Journaling is more intentional. You might prompt yourself with questions like “What happened today?” or “How did I feel about that situation?” and then explore your responses. It’s still free-form in execution but guided by loose themes or questions.
Gratitude Journaling involves listing or writing about things you’re grateful for. It’s simpler and more structured than stream of consciousness but still relatively open-ended in how you approach it.
Emotional Release Writing is specifically about getting feelings out onto the page—anger, sadness, frustration. You’re not trying to make sense of it or solve anything; you’re just venting and processing.
Morning Pages (popularized by Julia Cameron) involves writing three pages first thing in the morning without stopping or self-editing. It’s intentionally unstructured and meant to clear mental clutter before your day begins.
Prompt-Based Journaling uses specific prompts or questions to guide reflection—things like “What am I avoiding?” or “What would I do if I weren’t afraid?”—but you still respond in a free-form, exploratory way rather than formulaic answers.
Additional non-written journaling methods are also practised. Some practitioners keep records of images, sketches or other mediums which hold memory. The common thread is that they’re all relatively unstructured compared to, say, keeping a factual diary or filling out a structured form. The emphasis is on freedom of expression and personal exploration rather than documentation or adherence to a format.
JOURNALING + LIWC + OCEAN
Journaling data provides extreme detailed, rich qualitative data through authentic thoughts and perspective. See the ANIMUS overview.
The Big Five Model and higher dimensionality ‘Big Thirty Model’ provide validated representations of psychology. even through simple data collection methods such as the Big Five Inventory questionnaire.