arXiv AI
Aug 19

Beyond BFI: The CSI for Enhanced Reliability and Validity in Evaluating LLM Personality Traits

The paper introduces the Core Sentiment Inventory (CSI), a new personality trait evaluation tool for large language models (LLMs) that addresses reliability and validity issues found in existing methods like the Big Five Inventory (BFI). CSI is designed specifically for LLMs, supports both English and Chinese, and provides detailed psychological portraits of model behavior. Experiments show that CSI captures nuanced behavioral patterns, improves reliability, and correlates strongly (above 0.85) with real-world LLM outputs.

By Huanhuan Ma, Haisong Gong, Xiaoyuan Yi, Xing Xie, Philip S. Yu, Dongkuan Xu
arXiv Computation and Language
1d ago

Reading Too Much Into It? Interpretive Preferences and Commitment in LLM Mentalisation under Ambiguity

Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly used for interpersonal advice, influencing how users interpret ambiguous social encounters. Existing Theory of Mind evaluations rely on predefined answers, while uncertainty research overlooks LLMs’ preferred explanations and confidence under psychological distress. To address these gaps, the authors introduce MentalLoom, a novel evaluation of LLM mentalisation comprising 604 ambiguous social episodes, matched depression and social anxiety disclosures, and four‑turn dialogues with unchanged event evidence. Across eight LLMs, disclosures initially elicited more negative explanations overall but more positive narrator‑directed interpretations. Scripted repeated questioning showed greater emotional support, stronger positive narrator‑directed endorsement, and higher certainty without new event evidence, demonstrating that user context can reshape interpretive preferences and commitment while the underlying ambiguity remains unresolved.

By Stephanie Fong, Yiwen Jiang, Qingyang Xu, Zimu Wang, Yaling Shen, Xiangyu Zhao, Jiahe Liu, Yinghao Zhang, Vincent Lee, Dominic Dwyer