PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Steven Luis Aguilar
Industrial/Organizational
December 2005

Performance Effects of Gender, Extraversion, and Need for Achievement on Boredom Proneness

    The purpose of the present study is to explore the differential gender effects of monotonous working conditions on extroverted participants.  The survey research employed the use of an experimental design.  The performance measure consisted of a simple, repetitive sensory-motor task capable of easily inducing boredom (Burton, 1943).  Boredom proneness was assessed by the Boredom Proneness Scale (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986).  nAch was measured using the Needs Assessment Questionnaire (Heckert el at., 2000).  Bendig’s (1962) Pittsburgh Social Extraversion-Introversion scale was used to assess extraversion.  Hypotheses were analyzed using correlation and hierarchical regression.  Results indicated a significant negative relationship between extraversion and boredom proneness.  Furthermore, relationships were found between performance on a monotonous task and financial motivation and boredom proneness.  Implications and future research directions are explained in the discussion section.

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