Influence of extroversion and introversion on decision making ability
Background: Decision is defined as a choice that you make about something after thinking about several possibilities. Human decision making and judgment is readily observable in reality. The Personality trait that Influence Decision Making is usually missing from research of decision making. The current study is focused on the characteristics which stimulate the decision making behavior but is not concerned about what makes a decision good or bad.This study aimed to compare the differences in decision making abilities among introverts and extroverts and to analyze which characteristics are favorable for decision making. Methods: A cross sectional study conducted among a sample of 370 participants by nonprobability convenience sampling from Karachi, Pakistan. Questionnaire with close ended and open ended questions had two sections: 1) Personality Analysis; 2) Decision Making characteristics. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) which is the most widely used psychological instrument for measuring the extraversion introversion with 5 point Likert scale was utilized. The second section regarding decision making included twenty four open ended and close ended (with a 5 point Likert scale) statements describing how individuals make decisions. The data from the questionnaire was cleaned, coded and entered in Excel (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) exported to SPSS version 21 for windows (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois, USA) for analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: Exact half (50% of the extroverts go for snap decisions and quick decisions. Nine out of ten extroverts double check their information sources before making decisions but more than half (64% of them hold off important decisions as thinking makes them uneasy. Almost three fourth (68% of extroverts need someone to steer them in the right direction for decisions. More than three forth (79% of introverts rely on their intuition, inner feelings and reactions. More than one third (40% of introverts do not go for impulsive decisions. One third (33% introverts do not need the assistance of other people while making important decisions. Conclusions: The introverts are better at decision making than extroverts. The introverts rely on their intuition and inner feelings. Majority of them primarily counting on themselves, do not stretch for impulsive decisions while on the other hand extroverts usually go for snap decisions, quick decisions and decide what feels natural at the moment. They prefer to postpone whenever possible as thinking makes extroverts uneasy. Even though extroverts have a good quality of double checking their information before making decisions but they need someone to steer them in the right direction when they face important decisions. The findings of the present study can not be generalized due to the limited sample and volunteer bias. Future research is needed for the confirmation of this dimension of personality type and also to find out whether the decisions made by the introverts are good or bad which was beyond the scope of this study.