Determining associations between Big Five personality traits and executive function in an undergraduate student...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Personality Psychology

Background:

• Understanding the interplay between cognitive abilities and personality is crucial in psychology.
• Executive functions are complex cognitive processes essential for goal-directed behavior.
• The Big Five personality traits provide a robust framework for describing individual differences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the associations between executive functioning and the Big Five personality traits.
• To examine how specific personality dimensions relate to different aspects of executive function.

Main Methods:

• A sample of 200 undergraduates (73% women, mean age ~21 years) participated.
• Participants completed the Big Five Inventory-44 for personality assessment.
• Executive functioning was assessed using the Trail Making Test and the Semantic Fluency Test.

Main Results:

• Agreeableness showed a negative association with Semantic Fluency - Animals (β = -0.310, p < 0.001).
• Conscientiousness was positively associated with Trail Making Test B-A (β = 0.197, p = 0.016).
• Conscientiousness was negatively associated with Trail Making Test A (β = -0.193, p = 0.017).

Conclusions:

• The association between executive function and personality is construct-dependent.
• Conscientiousness exhibits differential associations with various executive function tasks.
• Future research should explore the impact of extreme conscientiousness levels on psychological well-being.