Who multi-tasks and why? Multi-tasking ability, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking.
The present study examined the relationship between personality and individual differences in multi-tasking ability. Participants enrolled at the University of Utah completed measures of multi-tasking activity, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. In addition, they performed the Operation Span in order to assess their executive control and actual multi-tasking ability. The findings indicate that the persons who are most capable of multi-tasking effectively are not the persons who are most likely to engage in multiple tasks simultaneously. To the contrary, multi-tasking activity as measured by the Media Multitasking Inventory and self-reported cell phone usage while driving were negatively correlated with actual multi-tasking ability. Multi-tasking was positively correlated with participants' perceived ability to multi-task ability which was found to be significantly inflated. Participants with a strong approach orientation and a weak avoidance orientation--high levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking--reported greater multi-tasking behavior. Finally, the findings suggest that people often engage in multi-tasking because they are less able to block out distractions and focus on a singular task. Participants with less executive control--low scorers on the Operation Span task and persons high in impulsivity--tended to report higher levels of multi-tasking activity.
Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America.
David M
DM
Sanbonmatsu
David L
DL
Strayer
Nathan
N
Medeiros-Ward
Jason M
JM
Watson
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012309:Risk-Taking; D020377:Self Efficacy; D057566:Self Report; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis