The Effect of Personality Type on Assembly Time and Wrist Kinematics during a Laboratory Task

Abstract

Psychosocial factors are becoming increasingly more prevalent in studies that explore occupational musculoskeletal injury/illness. The research presented here explores the relationships between two psychosocial factors (personality type and time stress) and biomechanical indicators of task performance. Twenty-four subjects participated in this laboratory study. Personality type was assessed using the Jenkins Activity Survey. Participants (12 Type A and 12 Type B) performed an assembly task under verbally imposed “no time stress” and “time stress” conditions. Dependent measures included assembly time and wrist motion parameters. Personality type and time stress demonstrated significant effects on mean assembly time. Time stress significantly and consistently impacted the wrist motion parameters while personality type did not. No significant interactions were noted. Psychosocial factors were found to directly impact biomechanical indicators of task performance. This study demonstrates the feasibility of this approach to explore the roles that psychosocial factors may play in musculoskeletal injury.