Personality and Individual Dierences 28 (2000) 11911192

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Comment

``The personality theories of H. J. Eysenck and

J. A. Gray: a comparative review.'' G. Matthews and
K. Gilliland (1999), Personality and Individual Dierences,
26, 583626 p
John Brebner
Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide, 5005, Australia

In their comprehensive comparison of Hans Eysenck's and Jerey Gray's theories, Gerry
Matthews and Kirby Gilliland wrote the following. ``Extraverts tend to show faster response
on short tasks, riskier speed-accuracy trade-o and lower response criterion'' (Eysenck, 1967).
A series of RT studies conducted by Brebner and Cooper (1985) suggested that extraverts
appear to be ``geared to respond'' and introverts seem ``geared to inspect''. However, eects of
E on responsiveness do not seem to be very reliable across dierent tasks and are not apparent
in many well-designed studies (Amelang & Ullwer, 1991; Matthews 1992).
The point that is made here is that the ``geared to respond/inspect'' dierence was invoked
in discussing a transit RT task where the stimulus rate was as low as 1 per 18 sec. With time
on task extraverts became sleepy and slower than introverts who remained alert (Brebner &
Cooper, 1974). In this task extraverts also tended to miss signals but introverts did not.
Changing the signal rate to 1 per 2.3 sec (except when catch trials occurred) altered the
responsiveness of extraverts who produced more commissive errors than the introverts
(Brebner & Flavel, 1978).
The conclusion that extraverts' responsiveness is not reliable across tasks is probably correct
simply because, unless a task is unbalanced to demand one or the other, i.e. being high on the
demand for stimulus analysis or response organisation, and low on the other, no dierence
between extraverts and introverts would be expected. In many tasks extraverts maintain their
responsiveness because of the degree of response organisation required, while introverts remain
responsive because of the level of stimulus analysis in the same task. Only when unbalanced
p

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J. Brebner / Personality and Individual Dierences 28 (2000) 11911192

tasks are used can dierences between them be shown, and manipulated to be in either
direction.
If press reports stating that Jonathon Evans of Bristol University, U.K. has identied the
gene 5HT2c as an impulsiveness gene in a DNA study he led, are correct (The Australian 21
September, 1998 citing the Sunday Times) extraverts' responsiveness would seem likely to be
linked to their impulsiveness. This might even be why extraverts appear to be ``geared to
respond''.
References
Amelang, M., & Ullwer, U. (1991). Correlations between psychometric measures and psychophysiological as well as
experimental variables in studies on extraversion and neuroticism. In J. Strelau, & A. Angleitner, Explorations in
temperament. New York: Plenum.
Brebner, J., & Cooper, C. (1974). The eect of a low rate of regular signals upon the reaction times of introverts
and extraverts. In H. J. Eysenck, Reprinted in the measurement of personality. Lancaster: Medical Technical
Publishing Company.
Brebner, J., & Cooper, C. (1985). A proposed unied model of extraversion. In J. T. Spence, & C. E. Izard,
Motivating emotion and personality. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Brebner, J., & Flavel, R. (1978). The eect of catch-trials on speed and accuracy among introverts and extraverts in
a simple RT task. British Journal of Psychology, 69, 915.
Eysenck, H. J. (1967). The biological basis of personality. Springeld, IL: Thomas.
Matthews, G. (1992). Extraversion. In A. P. Smith, & D. M. Jones, Handbook of human performance, Vol 3, State
and trait. London: Academic Press.