The link between ego-resiliency and changes in Big Five traits after decision making: The case of Extraversion

Abstract

After performing such solitary decision making tasks as the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Game of Dice Task (GDT), we expected that changes will occur in Extraversion trait measured by a short Hungarian Big Five Inventory (BFI). We also hypothesized that ego-resiliency (Block, 2002)—a dimension measuring the ability to adapt to situational demands—will be linked to the magnitude of Extraversion change. After a pre-task measurement of the Big Five traits and ego-resiliency, participants (N=93) completed the IGT and the GDT tasks. After each task, they filled out the BFI again. Pre- and post-task Big Five trait values showed significant differences. Participants reported lower post task scores on the Extraversion dimension and the magnitude of Extraversion change between pre- and post-task measurements correlated with ego-resiliency. The results highlight some short term effects of contextual factors influencing self-characterizations in BFI dimensions. Especially, individuals with high ego-resiliency give characteristically more introverted self-characterization after solitary tasks. The present results show an example of how the interplay between contextual factors and ego-resiliency can modify self-characterization within a very short period of time.