Music while you work: the differential distraction of background music on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts

The current study looked at the distracting effects of ‘pop music’ on introverts' and extraverts' performance on various cognitive tasks. It was predicted that there would be a main effect for music and an interaction effect with introverts performing less well in the presence of music than extraverts. Ten introverts and ten extraverts were given two tests (a memory test with immediate and delayed recall and a reading comprehension test), which were completed, either while being exposed to pop music, or in silence. The results showed that there was a detrimental effect on immediate recall on the memory test for both groups when music was played, and two of the three interactions were significant. After a 6-minute interval the introverts who had memorized the objects in the presence of the pop music had a significantly lower recall than the extraverts in the same condition and the introverts who had observed them in silence. The introverts who completed a reading comprehension task when music was being played also performed significantly less well than these two groups. These findings have implications for the study habits of introverts when needing to retain or process complex information. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Musical preference, deviance, and attitudes towards music celebrities

Two studies investigated the relationship among British students between liking for ‘problem’ music, indices of deviance, and scores on a slightly modified version of the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS). Study 1 indicated a positive relationship between liking for ‘problem’ music styles and psychoticism scores. Study 2 indicated that fans of ‘problem’ music scored higher than non-fans on measures of psychoticism, reactive rebelliousness, and two specific problem behaviours; that liking for ‘problem’ music was related only to psychoticism when all the indices of deviance were considered together in a multiple regression; and that fans of ‘problem’ music did not score higher on CAS measures of identification with the participants’ favourite musicians. The present data indicate a relationship outside North America between ‘problem’ music and deviance, that this might be attributable primarily to elevated psychoticism scores among listeners to this music, but that liking for ‘problem’ music was not associated with a greater tendency for participants to identify closely with licentious behaviours carried out by pop musicians.     

Gender, Internet identification, and Internet anxiety: correlates of Internet use.

This paper reports a study that investigated the effects of gender, Internet anxiety, and Internet identification on use of the Internet. The study involved 608 undergraduate students (490 females and 118 males). We surveyed the students' experience with the Internet, as well as their levels of Internet anxiety and Internet identification. We found a number of gender differences in participants' use of the Internet. Males were proportionally more likely to have their own web page than were females. They used the Internet more than females; in particular, they were more likely to use game websites, to use other specialist websites, and to download material from the Internet. However, females did not use the Internet for communication more than males. There was a significant positive relationship between Internet identification and total use of the Internet, and a significant negative relationship between Internet anxiety and total use of the Internet. Controlling for Internet identification and Internet anxiety, we found a significant and negative correlation between gender and use of the Internet. In total, all three of our predictors accounted for 40% of the variance in general Internet use: with Internet identification accounting for 26%, Internet anxiety accounting for 11%, and gender accounting for 3%.     

Personality traits and academic examination performance

British university students (N = 247) completed the NEO‐PI‐R (Costa & McCrae, 1992 ) personality inventory at the beginning of their course and took several written examinations throughout their three‐year degree. Personality super‐traits (especially Conscientiousness positively, and Extraversion and Neuroticism negatively) were significantly correlated with examination grades and were found to account for around 15% of the variance. Primary traits were also examined and results showed significant correlations between a small number of these traits (notably dutifulness and achievement striving positively, and anxiety and activity negatively) and academic achievement. Furthermore, selected primary personality traits (i.e. achievement striving, self‐discipline, and activity) were found to explain almost 30% of the variance in academic examination performance. It is argued that personality inventory results may represent an important contribution to the prediction of academic success and failure in university (particularly in highly selective and competitive settings). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emerging Adulthood in American and British Samples: Individuals' Personality and Health Risk Behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between instrumental and expressive traits, and health-related behaviors among individuals in emerging adulthood (18–25 years old) in two Western societies. Individuals (100 males, 100 females) in an American sample and a British sample (36 males, 75 females) completed the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, a measure of neuroticism, the Health Behaviors Inventory, and two measures of perceived physical health. As hypothesized, in support of the androgyny model, individuals in both samples who scored high on both instrumental and expressive traits reported better health practices (i.e. safety belt use, less smoking) than individuals who scored low on both sets of traits or high on only one set of traits, after controlling for neuroticism. As hypothesized, for both samples, neuroticism explained more variance in perceived physical health than the other personality traits.     

A review of the worst performance rule: Evidence, theory, and alternative hypotheses

This paper reviews evidence, theory, and alternative hypotheses for the worst performance rule (WPR), which states that on multitrial cognitive tasks, worst performance trials predict general intelligence (g) better than best performance trials. A review of the relevant evidence indicates that the WPR has been found for a variety of participants, tasks, and measures. A review of relevant theories reveals that the WPR appears to be related to cognitive factors (e.g., lapses in working memory) as well as biological factors (e.g., individual differences in neural oscillations). A review of alternative hypotheses shows that the WPR cannot be attributed to statistical or data artifacts such as outliers, unreliable measurement, or variance compression. The preponderance of evidence supports the hypothesis that the WPR holds for cognitive tasks high in g saturation but not for cognitive tasks low in g saturation. The paper ends with a call for research on the causes of the WPR and for research on the correlates of best performance.     

Modification of the startle reflex in a community sample: do one or two dimensions of psychopathy underlie emotional processing?

Recent research on psychopathy has begun to explore two dimensions that possibly underlie psychopathy–one related more to emotional and interpersonal traits, and another related more to antisocial behaviors. A community sample of adults was assessed for psychopathy using Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Eyeblinks elicited by startle probes were recorded while participants viewed pictures of emotionally-laden stimuli. Consistent with previous research, participants scoring high on PCL-R Factor 2 (“antisocial”) showed no affective modification of startle if they also scored high on PCL-R Factor 1 (“emotional detachment”). When the factor scores were analyzed together as continuous variables in a regression analysis, however, affective modification of startle was negatively related to Factor 1 but positively related to Factor 2. The results thus provide further support for a two-factor model of psychopathy.