Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Publication Date

2022

College

Sciences and Mathematics, College of

Department

Psychological Science, Department of

BURS Faculty Advisor

Dr. Patrick Morse

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Abstract

Personality traits, in particular neuroticism, can influence the way individuals perceive situations as seen in Rauthmann’s study (2015) that saw consistent perceptions within the same traits. A study by Thomson (2016) found evidence for a relationship between negative perspectives and neuroticism. Additionally, McNulty (2008) saw that neurotic couples tended to have more relationship difficulties due to the negative assumptions. These negative viewpoints and assumptions translate to situation perception. The participants were recruited from Belmont University’s Introduction to Psychological courses. The subjects took two self-reported surveys regarding their personality, particularly anxiety and neuroticism, and were presented with hypothetical situations to see how they would perceive the scenarios. The results of the personality surveys were correlated with situation perception. Based on the literature, we hypothesize that neuroticism will be negatively correlated with the valence of perceptions of situations. The way we perceive situations can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies and incorrect assumptions, which is why it is important to understand the relationship between neuroticism and perception. We anticipate that those who score higher on neuroticism will perceive situations negatively.

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