Can exposure to arguments pro and contra extraversion affect self-reports of the trait and the attitude toward it?

Abstract

Changeability of personality over short-term intervals has increasingly become a focus of research. However, the role played by argumentation interventions in short-term variations has scarcely been examined. In two experiments (N=363 and 320), we investigated how processing positive and negative argumentation regarding extraversion (Study 1: watching a lecture; Study 2: elaborating self-invented arguments) affects self-reports on this trait and attitude toward it. The experiments included three waves of measurements with argument manipulation (in favor of or against extraversion) immediately prior to Time 2 (Study 2 also included a control group). Mean-level changes in extraversion across time moments, measured with the longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis, were consistently negligible. Conversely, there were some indications that argumentation about extraversion could have immediate short-term effects on attitudes toward this trait. The random-intercept cross-lagged model showed that rank-order consistency stemmed from a trait-like intercept, which was particularly large for trait extraversion compared with the attitude. The autoregressive and cross-lagged effects of residual within-person variation were consistently small and mostly nonsignificant. Our findings suggest that extraversion and the attitude toward it maintained their temporal continuity within 3months, even under a single exposure to arguments pro and contra this trait.