Research Data Policy

Last updated: July 2026

Overview

Psyche exists to advance the science of self-understanding. This policy explains the two levels at which your data can support that mission: a baseline that applies to everyone who uses Psyche, and an explicit, optional level you can choose to opt into. The difference between the two comes down to one question — can anything that leaves Psyche be traced back to you?

Two Levels of Research Participation

Level 1 — Internal research (everyone)

Using Psyche means your responses help improve Psyche and contribute to research in a form that can never be traced back to you as an individual. Under this baseline:

Your data is analyzed internally to validate our assessments, build population norms, train our models, and improve the platform.
Your individual-level data is never given to any third party.
Only aggregate findings — population-level patterns that cannot identify any single person (e.g. "users aged 25–34 tend to score higher on openness") — are ever published or shared outside Psyche.
We retain the response-quality signals (response timing and interaction patterns) described in our Privacy Policy so our measurement stays accurate.

This baseline is part of using the platform, covered by our Terms and Privacy Policy. It uses a pseudonymous research identifier internally so we can study patterns over time — but nothing that leaves Psyche under this level can be linked back to you.

Level 2 — "Contribute to Science" (optional, opt-in)

If you turn on Contribute to Science in your settings, you allow more:

Your pseudonymized, individual-level data — keyed to a research identifier, with direct identifiers like your name and email removed — may be included in datasets we share with vetted external researchers under a data-use agreement.
You may be contacted about research studies or cohorts you're eligible to join (for example, academic studies or clinical research). Contact is made by Psyche on a researcher's behalf; a researcher only learns who you are if you separately agree to join a specific study. You're never obligated to take part.
It authorizes us to store your sensitive answers (see "Sensitive Data" below).

This is the level where individual-level data leaves Psyche — always pseudonymized, always to vetted researchers under agreement, never to advertisers, and never sold. You can turn it off at any time (see "Your Control").

Sensitive Data (Special Categories)

Some answers — ethnicity, race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and the neurodivergence screeners — are special category data under privacy law (GDPR Article 9) and require your explicit consent to store at all. That consent is part of Contribute to Science. If you don't opt in, we don't store those answers, and they play no part in any research, internal or external.

How We Protect Your Data

We use two levels of protection, matching the two levels of participation above.

Pseudonymization

For internal research (Level 1) and for the datasets shared under Contribute to Science (Level 2), your data is pseudonymized: direct identifiers (name, email, IP address) are removed and replaced with a research identifier. Pseudonymized data lets us conduct longitudinal research and keeps your identity separated from your responses.

Pseudonymized research data retains:

Assessment responses and scores
Coarsened demographic information (e.g. age range, not exact date of birth)
Performance patterns and response-quality metrics

The research identifier — and, for opt-in users, the mapping that lets Psyche reach you for recruitment — is stored separately from your account and is accessible only to authorized personnel. That mapping is never shared with any external party.

Aggregation and Full Anonymization

Anything shared outside Psyche under the baseline (Level 1) is aggregate only — population-level patterns with no individual rows. Aggregate findings cannot be traced to any individual, even by us.

Individual-level data only ever leaves Psyche under Contribute to Science (Level 2), and only in pseudonymized form to vetted researchers under a data-use agreement.

If you delete your account, any research contributions we retain are reduced to fully anonymized or aggregate form — the research identifier is destroyed and replaced with a one-way hash, and quasi-identifiers (exact birth date, country, IP) are removed.

How Research Data Is Used

Use	Level	What leaves Psyche
Psychometric validation (factor structure, IRT, reliability)	Internal (everyone)	Nothing individual — internal only
Population norms	Internal (everyone)	Nothing individual — internal only
Published scientific findings	Internal (everyone)	Aggregate only
AI / model training	Internal (everyone)	Nothing — trained on patterns, not memorized responses
Research datasets for external researchers	Opt-in only	Pseudonymized, individual-level, vetted recipients under agreement
Study & cohort recruitment (e.g. pharmaceutical research)	Opt-in only	Nothing until you agree to a specific study; contact is Psyche-mediated

Who We Share With — And Who We Don't

Permitted recipients (aggregate findings from everyone; pseudonymized individual-level data only from opt-in users):

Academic institutions and research organizations
Healthcare and public-health researchers
Psychometric and assessment organizations
Pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers — for scientific research and study recruitment

Never, for any purpose:

Advertisers, ad networks, or data brokers
Insurers — for underwriting, pricing, or coverage decisions
Any entity — for behavioral targeting, surveillance, or purposes designed to coerce, manipulate, or discriminate

We never sell data that identifies you, and we never share the mapping that could re-identify you.

Our Licensing Principle

We only share data — aggregate or pseudonymized — for uses intended to improve outcomes for people: advancing scientific understanding, improving healthcare, or developing better assessment tools. We will not share data for purposes designed to coerce, manipulate, or exploit individuals, including advertising, behavioral targeting, or surveillance. This principle guides every decision we make.

Your Control

Turning It On or Off

Contribute to Science is completely optional and reversible anytime in Settings → Privacy.
Turning it off does not affect your access to Psyche or your personal results.

What Happens When You Turn It Off

We stop including your individual-level data in any future external dataset.
We stop contacting you about research studies.
We delete the sensitive answers we were only storing under that consent.
What continues (the baseline): your data still supports internal research and aggregate findings that can't identify you, and the response-quality signals we keep for measurement accuracy are retained. These are part of using Psyche — covered by our Terms and Privacy Policy, not by this optional consent.
Datasets we shared externally before you opted out can't be recalled, but they're keyed to a research identifier, not to you.

To be precise: turning this off does not delete your results or your account. Your assessment responses stay in your account, linked to you, because that's what lets us show you your own results. If you want everything removed, delete your account and we remove your personal data within 30 days.

If You Delete Your Account

We remove your personal data within 30 days. Behavioral response-quality signals are deleted. Any research contributions we retain are reduced to fully anonymized or aggregate form and can no longer be traced back to you.

Data Security

Research data is:

Encrypted at rest and in transit
Keyed to a random research identifier rather than your account when used for research
Accessible only to authorized personnel
Subject to the same security standards as all Psyche data

Questions?

If you have questions about how your data is used for research, please contact us.

This policy may be updated periodically. Significant changes will be communicated via email or platform notification.