# All four leading LLMs talk more than they listen to personality-verified synthetic help-seekers

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.22425 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.22425/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 4 of its 71 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Aug 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Cultural Bias and Cultural Alignment of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.14096/) (2023)
- [Expressing stigma and inappropriate responses prevents LLMs from safely replacing mental health providers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.18412/) (2025)
- [Mechanistic Interpretability of Emotion Inference in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.05489/) (2025)
- [Mapping Caregiver Needs to AI Chatbot Design: Strengths and Gaps in Mental Health Support for Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregivers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.15047/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large language models are increasingly consulted at moments of distress, yet single-turn benchmarks neither test sustained exchanges nor distinguish between users. We built a personality-aware evaluation in which four widely used models advised several synthetic help-seekers, each given a psychometrically specified profile, in an acute crisis: a caregiver learning of a relative's dementia diagnosis. Auditors blind to the profile prompt recovered the specified bands from dialogue alone with high agreement on every instrument (ICC(2,4) = 0.91; 0.79-0.96 by instrument; band-score r = 0.78), as expected for the Big Five but equally for coping style, coping self-efficacy, resilience and reactance, which the lexical approach never covered. Such evaluation therefore reaches beyond the Five Factor Model to motivational, regulatory and self-appraisal dispositions. The four models were not distinguishable on emotion stabilisation and failed alike, sharing three modes: verbosity, a talk-to-listen ratio above one, and problem-solving before the situation had been explored.