Bolder, happier, smarter: The role of extraversion in positive mood and cognition

Abstract

Positive mood induction has contrasting effects on performance which vary according to cognitive task. Less clear is the role of personality and its interactive effects with positive mood on cognition. In the study here, participants ( N = 86) completed the EPQ-BV were then randomly assigned to positive (MI-P) or neutral (MI-N) mood induction, and completed three cognitive tasks: creativity, executive function and free recall. As predicted, greater increases in positive mood were found for high compared with low extraverts. In the creativity task, performance improved in the MI-P compared to MI-N condition for high extraverts but not low extraverts. Positive mood impaired free recall performance whilst no differences were found in executive function tasks. These findings are the first to show how stable personality characteristics interacting with positive mood induction contribute to enhance creativity.