Personality traits predict smartphone usage
Journal
European Journal of Personality
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2017
Author(s)
Abstract (De)
The present study investigates to what degree individual differences can predict frequency and duration of actual behaviour, manifested in mobile application (app) usage on smartphones. In particular, this work focuses on the identification of stable associations between personality on the factor and facet level, fluid intelligence, demography and app usage in 16 distinct categories. A total of 137 subjects (87 women and 50 men), with an average age of 24 (SD = 4.72), participated in a 90–min psychometric lab session as well as in a subsequent 60–day data logging study in the field. Our data suggest that personality traits predict mobile application usage in several specific categories such as communication, photography, gaming, transportation and entertainment. Extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness are better predictors of mobile application usage than basic demographic variables in several distinct categories. Furthermore, predictive performance is slightly higher for single factor—in comparison with facet–level personality scores. Fluid intelligence and demographics additionally show stable associations with categorical app usage. In sum, this study demonstrates how individual differences can be effectively related to actual behaviour and how this can assist in understanding the behavioural underpinnings of personality. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology
Language
English
Keywords
Big Five
factor and facets
behaviour
smartphones
app usage
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
SAGE
Volume
31
Number
6
Start page
701
End page
722
Official URL
Division(s)
Eprints ID
264555
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Name
per.2113.pdf
Size
201.86 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
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