David Stillwell

Professor of Computational Social Science

Deputy Director of the MBA Programme

Academic Director of the Psychometrics Centre

BSc, MSc, PhD (University of Nottingham)

My research interests include psychometrics, psychology, decision-making, and social networks. I use big data to understand psychology, and I also do consultancy on the topics of psychometrics, and people analytics. My research has been cited by many governments’ national data protection regulators worldwide.

I’m a member of the Organisational Behaviour subject group at Cambridge Judge Business School, which aspires to promote our understanding of behaviour within organisations and translate our scientific research into practical applications.

My details

Contact details

+44 (0)1223 339687

d.stillwell@jbs.cam.ac.uk

Academic area

Organisational Behaviour

Professional experience

David’s research uses big data to understand psychology. He published papers showing using social media data from millions of consenting individuals to show that the computer can predict a user’s personality as accurately as their spouse can. Follow-up research found that personalising an advert to the recipient’s psychology is more effective than generic ads.

This research has important public policy implications. Do consumers prefer their online experiences to be customised? How should consumers’ data be used to target them? Should regulators step in, and if so how?

David has spoken at workshops organised by the EU Data Protection Supervisor, by the European Parliament’s Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel, to UK government regulators, and to the Bank of England. His research has also been cited by many governments’ national data protection regulators worldwide.

David has also published research using various big data sources such as credit card data and textual data to show that spending money on products and services that match one’s personality leads to greater life satisfaction, that people tend to date others who have a similar personality, and that people who swear seem to be more honest.

David does consultancy on the topics of psychometrics, people analytics, and big data. He has worked on projects with companies including Amazon Payments, Barclays, Hilton Hotels, RBS, Shell, and Ubisoft.

Publications

Visit Professor Stillwell’s profile on Google Scholar for a list of his publications.

Awards and honours

Cambridge Judge Business School Teaching Award, 2022

News and insights

Why social media users like sharing negative news

Facebook and X users are far more likely to share articles from external news sources when the content is negative, and this could incentivise journalists to produce more negative content, according to research co-authored at the Psychometrics Centre.

Does exposure to infectious disease influence the way you vote?

Exposure to higher levels of human infectious diseases is linked to conservative (Republican) voting tendencies in America but the association weakens over time, finds study co-authored by Professor David Stillwell of Cambridge Judge Business School.

Cambridge Judge Professor named in talented young professors list

Professor David Stillwell of Cambridge Judge Business School is named by business-school publication Poets & Quants to its 40 Under 40 list of talented young professors teaching in MBA programmes around the world.

Media coverage

Cambridge Independent | 25 January 2023

Cambridge study highlights how social media turns values into negative traits

David Stillwell, Professor of Computational Social Science and Director of the Psychometrics Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School, speaks about the consequences of privileging hostile or negative content on social media.

“Even words connected to politics that seem to represent positive values – such as justice, democracy and equality – can actually result in negative sentiment because of the way those words are often used in tweets,” says David.

BBC Sounds | 24 November 2022

Science unwrapped – interactive science, medicine and technology

David Stillwell, Professor of Computational Social Science and Academic Director of the Psychometrics Centre at Cambridge University Judge Business School, talks to the Naked Scientists for their 30-minute deep-dive segment into personality testing.

Josephine Andresen, Researcher at Psychometrics Centre, was also interviewed.

The Week | 6 April 2022

The arguments for and against swearing

A study co-authored by David Stillwell, Professor of Computational Social Science and Academic Director of the Psychometrics Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School, is mentioned in an article about swearing, after BBC was forced to issue a swift apology for broadcasting a swear word during its coverage of the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.

“Swearing is often inappropriate but it can also be evidence that someone is telling you their honest opinion. Just as they aren’t filtering their language to be more palatable, they’re also not filtering their views.” David said.

Psychology Today, 1 April 2021
Are people who swear more honest?

Publico, 5 June 2019
The scientist who exposed the power of Facebook

Live Mint, 27 March 2019
Opinion: How the internet could end up wrecking Indian democracy

RSVP Live, 23 March 2018
Study finds foul mouthed people are more likely to be honest and trustworthy

New Scientist, 7 March 2018
I exposed how online profiling leaves us open to mass persuasion

Wired, 2 December 2017
This algorithm knows how you will vote based on the car you drive

MSN, 25 November 2017
This is what swearing says about you

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, 21 November 2017
The Naked Scientists

The Guardian, 14 November 2017
One Facebook ‘like’ is all it takes to target adverts, academics find

Business Insider, 29 September 2017
What Facebook ‘likes’ say about you

Birmingham Mail, 2 August 2017
People who swear a lot are more honest

Alphr, 24 July 2017
Money can buy happiness – but only if it’s used to buy ‘time’