The role of neuroticism in contingency judgment

In this study, the aim was to examine the role of neuroticism on contingency judgment processes. Using the Eysenck Personality Inventory- Revised Short Form, the neuroticism levels of 345 participants were assessed to create groups of high and low neurotics. In total 85 participants identified as 47 high and 38 low neurotics. In a two-stage experimental design, participants were randomly presented with contingency tests containing neutral, positive and negative emotional stimuli. Thus, the contingency judgments of high and low neurotic groups were tested according to different stimuli and types of contingency learning. The experimental data were analyzed on IBM SPSS 25, using an independent samples t-tests, and the results indicated that high levels of neuroticism did not lead to differences in contingency judgments across all types of stimuli and contingencies. It was observed that the high neuroticism group showed a differentiation in contingency judgment levels with emotional stimuli compared to neutral stimuli, in contrast to the low neuroticism group. The low neuroticism group was found to better differentiate contingency learning with emotional stimuli. It was observed that this difference between groups was particularly pronounced in the contingency judgment test with negative emotional stimuli. The study has provided functional contributions, especially to fields such as clinical and cognitive psychology.