Sex and Personality Differences in Performance on Number Computation in 11‐year‐old Children

Abstract

Eighty‐four eleven‐year‐old children were grouped in three levels of extraversion on the basis of their score on the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory (JEPI). They were then given a test of number computation consisting of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division at two levels of difficulty. A significant interaction between extraversion, sex and type of operation was found such that for girls extraverts and introverts were superior to ambiverts, and the difference was greater for multiplication and division than for addition and subtraction. In the case of boys the pattern was reversed with ambiverts doing better than extraverts and introverts. The results were discussed in terms of learning style and sex differences in information processing.