Psychological Reports, 1975, 36, 1007-1010. @ Psychological Reports 1975

EXTRAVERSION A N D NEUROTICISM AND NICOTINE, CAFFEINE, AND DRUG INTAKE CURT R. BARTOL Castleton Stare College Summrrsy.-This study attempted to test Eysenck's hypothesis regarding the relationships between extraversion, neuroticism, and smoking behavior. Contrary to Eysenck's predictions, results indicated that female extraverts are more likely to smoke under stressful situations, while female introverts prefer to smoke under non-stressful conditions. However, relatively high amounts of caffeine and stimulant and/or depressant drugs accompanied nicotine intake. These additional pharmacological variables mag confound the unexpected smoking behavior.

In an attempt to disentangle some of the complex effects of nicotine on the human nervous system, Eysenck ( 1973, pp. 136-137 ) hypothesized that introverts smoke cigarettes for "tranquilizing purposes," extraverts for "stimulating purposes." H e suggested that extraverts, theorized to be cortically underaroused, strive to maintain optimal levels of cortical arousal by increasing stimulation throughout the course of a day, while introverts, believed to be cortically overaroused, try to reduce stimulation, especially in stressful situations. Nicotine provides a pharmacological means to manipulate optimal cortical arousal levels, and it is believed to have both stimulant and depressant effects (Volle & Koelle, 1965; Stroebel, 1972 ). In small amounts, nicotine is assumed to stimulate the central nervous system and autonomic ganglia, while in relatively large amounts it results in a persistent depression of the cenual nervous system and all autonomic ganglia. Since the need for stimulation is greater in exttaverts and the nicotine intake is presumably spread out over the course of a day (resulting in small amounts), Eysenck ( 1973 ) further hypothesized that exuaverts would smoke more cigarettes per day than introverts, in an effort to maintain an optimal level of stimulation. Although a number of studies (e.g., Frith, 1971; McKennell, 1970) have examined the motivational factors involved in smoking, the dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism have been noticeably neglected in these studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether, as Eysenck supposes, extraverts smoke more cigarettes than introverts and are more likely to smoke in non-stressful situations where external stimulation is low. On the other hand, it is expected that introverts will be more likely to smoke in stressful, overstimulating circumstances. It would also be interesting to gain information on how caffeine and drug intake influence smoking and on how the personality dimension neuroticism/stabiliry interacts with extraversion/introversion in terms of nicotine, caffeine, and drug consumption.

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C. R. BARTOL

METHOD The Eysenck Personality Inventory, Form B (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1968) and a smoking questionnaire were administered to 390 students enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses at Casdeton State College. Forty female students qualified as subjects. In order to qualify, subjects must have indicated that they smoked at least five cigarettes per day and that they generally inhaled. They also had to score as either neurotic extraverts, neurotic introverts, stable extravercs, or stable introverts on the Eysenck Personality Inventory. The personality classification procedure has been detailed elsewhere (Bartol & Martin, 1974). Subjects who scored 4 or above on the Lie Scale were excluded. Unfortunately the criteria described above eliminated a large segment of the male smokers and, therefore, a sufficient male sample could not be obtained for this srudy. Ten smoking females per personality group were obtained. Subjects were required to fill out a questionnaire on smoking habits, drug usage, and coffee consumption. Most important to this study was the task in which subjects were asked to imagine themselves in 22 common smoking situations and indicate, using a 7-point scale, the intensity of the desire to have a cigarette. The list of situations was borrowed from a study by Frith (1971), with minor modifications to make the situations more applicable to American college students. Ten of the statements described stressful Situations, e . g , "You are sitting in a dentist's waiting room knowing that you are to have a particularly difficult filling," and 12 situations were non-stressful, e.g., "You are having a quiet evening with friends." The 7-point rating scale ranged from 7 (extremely high desire to have a cigarette) to 1 (extremely low desire). The intensity of the desire to have coffee in stressful or non-stressful situations was also determined, using a similar 7-point scale.

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&SULTS

AND

DISCUSSION

Means for extraversion and neuroticism, age, number of cigarettes, and standard deviation of cigarette consumption are shown in Table 1. t tests yielded no significant differences between personality groups and number of cigarettes smoked. Most interestingly, a 2 (extraversion) X 2 (neuroticism) X 2 (conditions: stress or non-stress) analysis of variance, with desire for a cigarette the dependent variable, indicated that extravercs have a greater desire for a cigarette in stressful situations, whereas introverts have a greater desire in nonTABLE 1 MEANSOF RELEVANTVARIABLESAS A FUNCTIONOF E X T R A V E R ~ ~ ~ N / ~ N T R ~ VAND E R SNEUROTICISM/STABILIT ION Neurotic Extraverts Extraversion scores Neuroticism scores Cigarettes per day Desire for cig/stress Desire for cig/no stress Number of coffee drinkers Cups per day Desire for coffee/stress Desire for coffee/no stress

Stable Extraverts

Neurotic Introverts

Stable Inuoverts

PERSONALITY, NICOTINE, CAFFEINE

1009

stressful situations (Table 2 ) . Under stressful conditions, extraverts averaged 4.6 in expressed desire for a cigarette, whereas introverts averaged 3.8. Under non-stressful conditions, emaverts averaged 4.1 and introverts 4.4. There was also a trend ( F = 3.67, df = 1/36. p < . l o ) for neurotics to desire cigarettes more often than stables in both condrt~ons. A three-factor mixed-design analysis of variance, with desire for coffee the dependent variable, gave mo significant differences. As might be expected a significant main effect for conditions was found ( F = 13.27, df = 1/16, 9 < .OOS), with all groups indicating they would be more likely to drink coffee under non-stressful conditions. TABLE 2 VARIANCE OP DESIRETO SMOKFIAS A FUNCTIONOF EXTRAVBRSION, NEUROTICISM, AND STRFSSFULAND NON-SIRESSFUL CONDITIONS

ANALYSIS OF

Source Between Subjects Extraversion (E) Neuroticism ( N ) N X E

Error ( b ) Wirhin Subjeccs Conditions (c) C X E

C X N CXEXN Error ( w )

MS

F

39

1.59

1 1

4.55 0.55 1.24

1.28 3.67

df

36

P

Extraversion and neuroticism and nicotine, caffeine, and drug intake.

Psychological Reports, 1975, 36, 1007-1010. @ Psychological Reports 1975 EXTRAVERSION A N D NEUROTICISM AND NICOTINE, CAFFEINE, AND DRUG INTAKE CURT...
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