Poster Session 6, 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM: Campus Center Auditorium [A49]

Presenter: Deekshita Rajendran

Faculty Sponsor: Youngbin Kwak

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate how individual differences in the Neuroticism Personality Trait correlate with the decision-making behavior and motor control by seeing if those individuals tend to explore new resources to decrease uncertainty, or exploit existing resources to utilize them. This study was motivated by the need to understand individuals who have anxiety related traits, like neuroticism, and how it influences indecisiveness and decision making processes. This study will be using the Grids Task to measure a participants' exploration and exploitation decision making and the Big Five Personality 30 item survey to see the relationship between these two measures. Other measures such as Loss Aversion, Stimulating Instrumental Risk Inventory, Brief Sensation Seeking Scale, and Ambiguity Tolerance Scale will also be tested in order to strengthen the study. This research is still ongoing however the predicted results are that individuals with high levels of the Neuroticism Personality Trait tend to exploit more and go with familiar options than seek out and explore new options. This research will help better understand individuals with high levels of neuroticism, improve their everyday life, work performances, social interactions by understanding how they make decisions everyday, and understanding the correlation high levels of neuroticism has with anxiety.