"Can You Name the Color?": Exploring the Interconnectedness of Personality and Smartphone-Related Distractibility
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Jillene Seiver
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
5-7-2025 9:40 AM
End Date
5-7-2025 10:00 AM
Location
PUB 321
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Psychology
Abstract
In this experiment, I will examine the links between parenting styles, distraction by a cellphone or not, and performance on the Stroop task. Half of the participants will be randomly assigned to the experimental condition (they will have a cellphone on the desk next to them) or the control condition (no cellphone). They will all complete the Big Five Inventory (which assesses conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion), the Parental Authority Questionnaire (which determines the parenting style with which they were raised; to be used by another researcher), and a Possession Survey (which measures the degree to which they are attached to their cellphone). Then they will complete the Stroop task, in which they will be shown a series of printed words and will be asked to verbally name the color of the ink of the printed words. I expect to find that those in the experimental condition will be slower on the Stroop task, because the cellphone will be distracting, and the Stroop task requires a great deal of cognitive capacity. In addition, I predict that those who are higher in neuroticism (which includes tendencies towards anxiety and depression) and those who are higher in extraversion (which includes friendliness and outgoingness) will be more attached to their cellphone, be more distracted by the cellphone, and will perform worse on the Stroop task. These results would expand the literature on the effects of the mere presence of a cellphone on cognitive performance.
Recommended Citation
Edney, Justin R., ""Can You Name the Color?": Exploring the Interconnectedness of Personality and Smartphone-Related Distractibility" (2025). 2025 Symposium. 5.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2025/op_2025/o3_2025/5
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
"Can You Name the Color?": Exploring the Interconnectedness of Personality and Smartphone-Related Distractibility
PUB 321
In this experiment, I will examine the links between parenting styles, distraction by a cellphone or not, and performance on the Stroop task. Half of the participants will be randomly assigned to the experimental condition (they will have a cellphone on the desk next to them) or the control condition (no cellphone). They will all complete the Big Five Inventory (which assesses conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion), the Parental Authority Questionnaire (which determines the parenting style with which they were raised; to be used by another researcher), and a Possession Survey (which measures the degree to which they are attached to their cellphone). Then they will complete the Stroop task, in which they will be shown a series of printed words and will be asked to verbally name the color of the ink of the printed words. I expect to find that those in the experimental condition will be slower on the Stroop task, because the cellphone will be distracting, and the Stroop task requires a great deal of cognitive capacity. In addition, I predict that those who are higher in neuroticism (which includes tendencies towards anxiety and depression) and those who are higher in extraversion (which includes friendliness and outgoingness) will be more attached to their cellphone, be more distracted by the cellphone, and will perform worse on the Stroop task. These results would expand the literature on the effects of the mere presence of a cellphone on cognitive performance.
