Influence of Extraversion on Social Loafing Behavior: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate extraversion as a moderator of social loafing on a motor task that requires fine motor skills as well as perceptual-motor skills. Participants with higher and lower levels of extraversion were asked to group dots according to their color during high and low identifiability conditions. The performance was determined by the number of dots accurately grouped. A 2 (group; high/low extraversion) × 2 (identifiability; high/low) mixed model of ANOVA revealed a significant interaction between extraversion and identifiability, which means that extraverts’ performance increased from the low to high identifiability condition. On the other hand, introverts’ performance remained relatively stable across high and low identifiability conditions. Overall, results suggested that in an identifiable state, extraverts tend to increase their performance.