Trait self-report as a “fill in” belief system: Categorization speed moderates the extraversion/life satisfaction relation

Abstract

The present studies pursue the premise that self-reported traits such as extraversion can be viewed in terms of beliefs about the self that may be used as a default, particularly when encoding skills are poor. Encoding skills were measured by several choice reaction time tasks. Study 1 supported the hypothesis that individual differences in categorization speed predict abilities to assign self-relevant meaning to events as they occur. Studies 2 – 4, involving 213 undergraduates, sought to build on this foundation in the context of potential interactions between categorization speed and trait extraversion in the prediction of life satisfaction. As hypothesized, the trait of extraversion predicted reports of life satisfaction particularly among slow categorizers; among fast categorizers, such relations did not occur. The results in total suggest that individuals differ in their episodic encoding abilities and that trait/outcome relations (at least as measured by self-report) might be somewhat particular to those who lack an ability to assign meaning to events as they occur.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shigehiro Oishi

The first author acknowledges support from NIMH (MH 068241).