mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Humanizing LLMs: A Survey of Psychological Measurements with Tools, Datasets, and Human-Agent Applications

arXiv 2505.00049 ↗First posted 30 Apr 2025cs.CY cs.CL cs.HCcited by 10

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Social simulation and multi-agent debate

Abstract (arXiv)

As large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used in human-centered tasks, assessing their psychological traits is crucial for understanding their social impact and ensuring trustworthy AI alignment. While existing reviews have covered some aspects of related research, several important areas have not been systematically discussed, including detailed discussions of diverse psychological tests, LLM-specific psychological datasets, and the applications of LLMs with psychological traits. To address this gap, we systematically review six key dimensions of applying psychological theories to LLMs: (1) assessment tools; (2) LLM-specific datasets; (3) evaluation metrics (consistency and stability); (4) empirical findings; (5) personality simulation methods; and (6) LLM-based behavior simulation. Our analysis highlights both the strengths and limitations of current methods. While some LLMs exhibit reproducible personality patterns under specific prompting schemes, significant variability remains across tasks and settings. Recognizing methodological challenges such as mismatches between psychological tools and LLMs' capabilities, as well as inconsistencies in evaluation practices, this study aims to propose future directions for developing more interpretable, robust, and generalizable psychological assessment frameworks for LLMs.

Key facts. Cited by 10 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Social simulation and multi-agent debate, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 47 of its 136 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 30 Apr 2025.

Builds on

47 of 136 references.

Closest ancestors · 5

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024Beyond Demographics: Aligning Role-playing LLM-based Agents Using Human Belief Networks25 Jun
  2. 2024The Effects of Embodiment and Personality Expression on Learning in LLM-based Educational Agents24 Jun
  3. 2023Do LLM Agents Exhibit Social Behavior?23 Dec
  4. 2023MetaAgents: Large Language Model Based Agents for Decision-Making on Teaming10 Oct
  5. 2023User Behavior Simulation with Large Language Model based Agents5 Jun

Other references · 42

  1. 2020Language Models are Few-Shot Learnerscited by 32,199
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  3. 2023LLaMA: Open and Efficient Foundation Language Modelscited by 13,958
  4. 2022PaLM: Scaling Language Modeling with Pathwayscited by 5,304
  5. 2021Symbolic Knowledge Distillation: from General Language Models to Commonsense Modelscited by 270
  6. 2023PersonaLLM: Investigating the Ability of Large Language Models to Express Personality Traitscited by 229
  7. 2023Do LLMs exhibit human-like response biases? A case study in survey designcited by 176
  8. 2023SmartPlay: A Benchmark for LLMs as Intelligent Agentscited by 123
  9. 2024GTBench: Uncovering the Strategic Reasoning Limitations of LLMs via Game-Theoretic Evaluationscited by 118
  10. 2022Who is GPT-3? An Exploration of Personality, Values and Demographicscited by 112
  11. 2023Can Large Language Models Serve as Rational Players in Game Theory? A Systematic Analysiscited by 91
  12. 2024GameBench: Evaluating Strategic Reasoning Abilities of LLM Agentscited by 89
30 more
  1. 2024BIG5-CHAT: Shaping LLM Personalities Through Training on Human-Grounded Datacited by 49
  2. 2022Estimating the Personality of White-Box Language Modelscited by 47
  3. 2023Theory of Mind in Large Language Models: Examining Performance of 11 State-of-the-Art models vs. Children Aged 7-10 on Advanced Testscited by 46
  4. 2024Evaluating Language Model Agency through Negotiationscited by 43
  5. 2022Identifying and Manipulating the Personality Traits of Language Modelscited by 40
  6. 2023Self-Assessment Tests are Unreliable Measures of LLM Personalitycited by 39
  7. 2023Have Large Language Models Developed a Personality?: Applicability of Self-Assessment Tests in Measuring Personality in LLMscited by 32
  8. 2024Limited Ability of LLMs to Simulate Human Psychological Behaviours: a Psychometric Analysiscited by 30
  9. 2023Who is ChatGPT? Benchmarking LLMs' Psychological Portrayal Using PsychoBenchcited by 28
  10. 2024LLM-GLOBE: A Benchmark Evaluating the Cultural Values Embedded in LLM Outputcited by 27
  11. 2025Evaluating Personality Traits in Large Language Models: Insights from Psychological Questionnairescited by 24
  12. 2024Do LLMs Exhibit Human-Like Reasoning? Evaluating Theory of Mind in LLMs for Open-Ended Responsescited by 22
  13. 2024Evaluating Large Language Models with Grid-Based Game Competitions: An Extensible LLM Benchmark and Leaderboardcited by 22
  14. 2024K-Level Reasoning: Establishing Higher Order Beliefs in Large Language Models for Strategic Reasoningcited by 21
  15. 2024LLMs Simulate Big Five Personality Traits: Further Evidencecited by 21
  16. 2024LLMs with Personalities in Multi-issue Negotiation Gamescited by 21
  17. 2023Personality testing of Large Language Models: Limited temporal stability, but highlighted prosocialitycited by 16
  18. 2025Pok'eChamp: an Expert-level Minimax Language Agentcited by 16
  19. 2024ControlLM: Crafting Diverse Personalities for Language Modelscited by 15
  20. 2024LMLPA: Language Model Linguistic Personality Assessmentcited by 15
  21. 2024Human-like Affective Cognition in Foundation Modelscited by 13
  22. 2024Identifying and Manipulating Personality Traits in LLMs Through Activation Engineeringcited by 13
  23. 2023AI Text-to-Behavior: A Study In Steerabilitycited by 11
  24. 2024Identifying Multiple Personalities in Large Language Models with External Evaluationcited by 10
  25. 2024Self-assessment, Exhibition, and Recognition: a Review of Personality in Large Language Modelscited by 10
  26. 2024Predicting the Big Five Personality Traits in Chinese Counselling Dialogues Using Large Language Modelscited by 7
  27. 2025Exploring the Potential of Large Language Models to Simulate Personalitycited by 7
  28. 2025Language Models Predict Empathy Gaps Between Social In-groups and Out-groupscited by 6
  29. 2025EnigmaToM: Improve LLMs' Theory-of-Mind Reasoning Capabilities with Neural Knowledge Base of Entity Statescited by 6
  30. 2024Secret Keepers: The Impact of LLMs on Linguistic Markers of Personal Traitscited by 1

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 4; 2026: 6.

10 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025Beyond BFI: The CSI for Enhanced Reliability and Validity in Evaluating LLM Personality Traits
  2. 2025AIPsychoBench: Understanding the Psychometric Differences between LLMs and Humans
  3. 2026Evaluating LLMs as Human Surrogates in Controlled Experiments
  4. 2024Open Models, Closed Minds? On Agents Capabilities in Mimicking Human Personalities through Open Large Language Models
  5. 2026Can LLMs Truly Embody Human Personality? Analyzing AI and Human Behavior Alignment in Dispute Resolution
  6. 2023Machine Psychology
  7. 2025Evaluating LLM Alignment on Personality Inference from Real-World Interview Data
  8. 2023Exploring the psychology of LLMs' Moral and Legal Reasoning