An Assessment of Conscious Content as Related to Introversion-Extraversion

Abstract

A sample of eighteen introverts and eighteen extraverts was identified from a group of 107 undergraduates administered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The contents of these subjects' consciousness were then assessed using a paging device which cued them at random intervals on an average of twenty times a day for two days. Subjects recorded the contents of their thoughts, activity, time of day, sensory modality and time orientation (past, present, future). When analyzed at the level of individual words in terms of personality type and sex, the data showed that introverts were more likely to make reference to words denoting processing (e.g., consciousness, awareness, wondering, etc.), while extraverts were more likely to make reference to time and objects. Generally, subjects differed more in their reports of consciousness as a function of introversion-extraversion than sex.