Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
1984
Abstract
Extraversion, anxiety, and two different experimental conditions were varied independently in a 2 x 2 x 2 study of eyeblink conditioning and extinction. The Eysenck Personality Inventory and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale were given to 167 college students of both sexes to measure individual differences in extraversion and anxiety, respectively. Students who scored in the upper or lower quartiles on these tests were classified as either anxious extraverts, non-anxious extraverts, anxious introverts, or non-anxious introverts. Subjects learned under one or the other of two sets of conditions. One set--partial reinforcement, low UCS strength, and short CS-UCS interval--is expected to facilitate the learning of introverts. The other set--continuous reinforcement, high UCS strength, and long CS-UCS interval--is expected to facilitate the learning of extraverts.Two significant main effects--extraversion and experimental conditions--were found, with introverts showing superior conditioning. While "state" anxiety (as measured by the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) was significantly present in anxious subjects, anxiety had no significant effect on eyeblink conditioning. The results confirmed Eysenck's prediction of, and previous research showing, superior conditioning for introverts. The superiority was visible even in the presence of high anxiety. These results suggest that extraversion, rather than anxiety, has a differential effect on conditioning. However, it may be argued that insufficient anxiety was aroused to produce an effect upon conditioning and/or eliminate differences in conditioning between introverts and extraverts.
Recommended Citation
Wicks, Hugh Boyd, "Comparison of the Effects of Introversion, Extraversion and Anxiety on Conditioning." (1984). All ETDs from UAB. 7033.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/7033
Comments
MA - Master of Arts; ProQuest publication number 31751953