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Individual Differences In Experiment Participation: Structure, Autonomy, and the Time of the Semeste
Author(s) -
Roman Robert J.,
Moskowitz Gordon B.,
Stein Morris I.,
Eisenberg Ronda F.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1995.tb00804.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , personality , autonomy , association (psychology) , scale (ratio) , class (philosophy) , developmental psychology , psychotherapist , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , political science , computer science , law
This research investigated the association of two individual difference moderators of psychological phenomena with the time of semester students choose to participate in experiments. The Personal Need for Structure (PNS) scale and the Stein Self‐Description Questionnaire were administered to the students in an introductory psychology class at the beginning of a university semester. Students' responses on these measures were related to their chosen dates of required participation in psychological research. Higher levels of PNS predicted earlier experiment participation and quicker completion of the experiment requirement once started. Personality types distinguished by the Stein Self‐Description Questionnaire revealed that those indifferent or hostile to authority participate in experiments later in the semester than do the curious or more conforming types. Implications of these findings for external validity of social psychological research at different points in the semester are discussed