Recommendation machine

Abstract

A machine may be configured as a recommendation machine that makes one or more recommendations to one or more users. The machine may provide a recommendation based on one or more psychometric profiles that correspond to a user, a product, a manager for the product, or any suitable combination thereof. The user may be a potential buyer of the product, and the manager for the product may fully or partially manage the product and consequently affect the value of the product. The user's psychometric profile may describe market understanding and risk tolerance possessed by the user, and the manager's psychometric profile may describe market understanding and risk tolerance held by the manager. Such psychometric profiles may be used to make recommendations of products. In addition, a psychometric profile for the product itself may be used in the making of such recommendations.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 accessing a first psychometric profile of a user,
 the first psychometric profile including a market model of the user and a risk model of the user, 
 the market model of the user indicating an unconscious characterization applied by the user to a market for products, 
 the risk model of the user indicating an unconscious degree of risk tolerable by the user; 
   accessing a plurality of psychometric profiles of products within the market,
 a second psychometric profile among the plurality of psychometric profiles being correlated with a product within the market to which the unconscious characterization is applied; 
   using a processor, identifying the product based on a comparison of the first psychometric profile of the user to the second psychometric profile correlated to the product; and   causing a user interface to present the user with a reference to the product in response to the identifying of the product based on the comparison of the first and second psychometric profiles.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 generating the first psychometric profile of the user,
 the generating of the first psychometric profile including generating the market model of the user based on a metaphor statement presented to the user and an indicated level of agreement by the user with the metaphor statement, 
 the metaphor statement being a figurative description of the market. 
 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 causing the user interface to present the metaphor statement on a device of the user; and 
 receiving the indicated level of agreement by the user with the presented metaphor statement that figuratively describes the market. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 generating the first psychometric profile of the user,
 the generating of the first psychometric profile including generating the risk model of the user based on a result of an implicit association test completed by the user, 
 the result indicating the unconscious degree of risk tolerable by the user. 
 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising:
 administering the implicit association test by causing the user interface to present the implicit association test on a device of the user and receive responses of the user to the implicit association test; and 
 calculating the result from the received responses of the user to the administered implicit association test. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein:
 the result of the implicit association test is an unprimed result of an unprimed implicit association test administered to the user;   the generating of the risk model is based on a primed result of a primed implicit association test administered to the user after the unprimed implicit association test; and the method further comprises   administering the unprimed implicit association test on a device of the user and subsequently administering the primed implicit association test on the device of the user, the unprimed and primed implicit association tests being administered by the causing the user interface to present the
 unprimed and primed implicit association tests on the device of the user. 
   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising:
 causing the user interface to present priming content to the user between the unprimed and primed implicit association tests; and wherein 
 the calculating of the result is based on unprimed responses of the user to the unprimed implicit association test and based on primed responses of the user to the primed implicit association test. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the result indicates the unconscious degree of risk tolerable by the user in regard to financial risk; and   the priming content includes a description of a financial disaster scenario.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 generating the second psychometric profile correlated with the product,
 the generating of the second psychometric profile including generating a further market model of a manager that manages the product, 
 the further market model indicating an unconscious characterization applied by the manager to the market, 
 the further market model being generated based on a metaphor statement presented to the manager and an indicated level of agreement by the manager with the metaphor statement, 
 the metaphor statement being a figurative description of the market. 
 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 generating the second psychometric profile correlated with the product,
 the generating of the second psychometric profile including generating a further risk model of a manager that manages the product, 
 the further risk model indicating a further unconscious degree of risk tolerable by the manager, 
 the further risk model being generated based on a result of an implicit association test completed by the manager, 
 the result indicating the further unconscious degree of risk tolerable by the manager. 
   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising:
 administering the implicit association test by causing the user interface to present the implicit association test on a device of the manager and receive responses of the manager to the implicit association test; and 
 calculating the result from the received responses of the manager to the administered implicit association test. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein:
 the result of the implicit association test is an unprimed result of an unprimed implicit association test administered to the manager;   the generating of the risk model is based on a primed result of a primed implicit association test administered to the manager after the unprimed implicit association test; and the method further comprises   administering the unprimed implicit association test on a device of the manager and subsequently administering the primed implicit association test on the device of the manager,
 the unprimed and primed implicit association tests being administered by the causing the user interface to present the unprimed and primed implicit association tests on the device of the manager. 
   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 causing the user interface to present a parameter selection bar with a minimum slider and a maximum slider, the minimum slider being operable to specify a minimum value of a range for a parameter of the product, the maximum slider being operable to specify a maximum value of the range for the parameter of the product,
 the parameter selection bar being presented with a corresponding importance bar with an importance slider operable to specify an importance of the range; and 
 
 detecting specification of range and the importance of the range; and wherein 
 the identifying of the product includes determining that the parameter of the product falls outside of the range by a margin but that the product is nonetheless eligible for identification based on the margin and the importance of the range. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 generating the second psychometric profile correlated with the product based on performance statistics indicative of changes in value of the product. 
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the user is at least one of a first person, a first team, or a first organization; and   the second psychometric profile describes a manager that is at least one of a second person that manages the product, a second team that manages the product, or a second organization that manages the product.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the product is an investment fund;   the user is a potential investor in the investment fund; and   the second psychometric profile describes a manager that manages the investment fund.   
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
 accessing a first psychometric profile of a user,
 the first psychometric profile including a market model of the user and a risk model of the user, 
 the market model of the user indicating an unconscious characterization applied by the user to a market for products, 
 the risk model of the user indicating an unconscious degree of risk tolerable by the user; 
   accessing a plurality of psychometric profiles of products within the market,
 a second psychometric profile among the plurality of psychometric profiles being correlated with a product within the market to which the unconscious characterization is applied; 
   identifying the product based on a comparison of the first psychometric profile of the user to the second psychometric profile correlated to the product; and   causing a user interface to present the user with a reference to the product in response to the identifying of the product based on the comparison of the first and second psychometric profiles.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 generating the first psychometric profile of the user,
 the generating of the first psychometric profile including generating the market model of the user based on a metaphor statement presented to the user and an indicated level of agreement by the user with the metaphor statement, 
 the metaphor statement being a figurative description of the market. 
   
     
     
         19 . A system comprising:
 an access module configured to:
 access a first psychometric profile of a user, the first psychometric profile including a market model of the user and a risk model of the user, the market model of the user indicating an unconscious characterization applied by the user to a market for products, the risk model of the user indicating an unconscious degree of risk tolerable by the user; 
 access a plurality of psychometric profiles of products within the market, a second psychometric profile among the plurality of psychometric profiles being correlated with a product within the market to which the unconscious characterization is applied; 
   a processor configured by a recommender module to identify the product based on a comparison of the first psychometric profile of the user to the second psychometric profile correlated to the product; and   a user interface module configured to cause a user interface to present the user with a reference to the product in response to the identifying of the product based on the comparison of the first and second psychometric profiles.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  further comprising:
 a user analysis module configured to generate the first psychometric profile of the user,
 the generating of the first psychometric profile including generating the risk model of the user based on a result of an implicit association test completed by the user, 
 the result indicating the unconscious degree of risk tolerable by the user.