Development of a personality scale

Personality Construct Development of a Personality Scale

Measuring extroversion: Personality evaluation scale construct

Extroversion has been conceptualized as one of the core human characteristics within the constructs of many personality tests, including the popular Myers-Briggs and DISC personality assessments. Extroversion has been defined as having one's emotional battery 'recharged' rather than depleted by social interactions. This stands in contrast with the emotional tendency of introverts, who often feel depleted, emotionally and intellectually, by social interactions. Extroversion is more important than ever in functioning in the business world today, given the importance of teamwork at many organizations. Additionally, sociability has been linked to better health outcomes. Individuals with strong social bonds tend to live longer than their non-social peers and extroverts are more likely to be affected by positive lifestyle choices of their peers, such as not smoking, exercising, and eating a healthy diet (Singh & Misra 2009).

Extroversion has been called one of the 'big five' of all personality traits that define who we are as human beings. It is an observable as well as an internal state and "encompasses such more specific traits as talkative, energetic, and assertive" (Measuring the big five, 2010, University of Oregon). Other big five personality-defining traits are agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience (Measuring the big five, 2010, University of Oregon).

Given the importance of sociability in healthy human interactions, the following brief, 10-item personality assessment construct will measure extroversion. It will make use of a logical, content-based approach. The objective is to assess subjects for the demonstrable quality of extroversion rather than to assess the trait of extroversion in a philosophical manner.

Method

Questionnaire: Five subjects were given a 10-item questionnaire with items that indicated a tendency to manifest either extroversion or introversion. The listed responses below were randomized and different for every test subject, rather than presented in the following order.

Yes or no (checklist format):

Sociability

I feel recharged after going to a party.

I prefer to spend an evening with friends than alone.

My family is extremely important to me.

I generate more ideas in a group than alone.

What other people think is important to me.

A lack of sociability

Speaking in public makes me feel anxious.

I often feel stressed after spending time with others, even people I like.

I find group projects frustrating.

Being invited to a party makes me feel anxious.

I march to the tune of my own drummer.

Results (including a description of specific analyses performed and results)

The test was given to three women and two men. All were within the ages of 17-30.

R1 (Woman): 3 'yes' sociability/extroversion; 1 'yes' introversion

R2 (Woman): 4 'yes' sociability/extroversion; 2 'yes' introversion

R3 (Male): 3 'yes' sociability/extroversion; 3 'yes' introversion

R4 (Male): 4 'yes' sociability/extroversion; 1 'yes' introversion

R5 (Woman): 5 'yes' sociability/extroversion; 1 'yes' introversion

Discussion

With only ten items, only a fairly cursory analysis of the subject's degree extroversion was possible, although the results did support the idea that extroversion rather than introversion is more common amongst human beings. (Humans are often called 'social animals'). However, the test construct acknowledged the fact that no one is perfectly social or asocial but a mix of both characteristics. Extroversion and introversion are not necessarily either/or qualities, which has been one of the critiques of the Myers-Brigg assessment. In future forms of this extroversion inventory, creating a typology of different types of introversion and extroversion would be useful. For example, some people are very extroverted with friends, but are more socially reserved in a work context. Others are very introverted in the sense that they like to be alone, but can still 'get by' in social environments and perform like extroverts. It is also possible to be very confident speaking in public to large groups of people, but to feel more uncomfortable one-on-one, in personal social contexts.

Additionally, positive forms of sociability -- such as compassion -- and negative forms -- such as conformity with the group at the expense of one's own opinions -- should be measured in a future scale. Some aspects of sociability such as agreeing with others at the expense of one's own opinion can have detrimental social consequences, just like a fear of speaking in public as a result of introversion can have negative personal consequences. Having a list of different items to score for positive and negative qualities of introversion and extroversion would paint a more complete picture of the individual's psyche.