The Color of Personalities: Introversion, Extroversion, and the Surprising Effect of Gender on Artistic Expression

Overview

Objectives This project explores how personality, specifically introversion versus extroversion, affects a person's artistic expression. I hypothesized introverts would 1) utilize lighter, duller, more muted colors 2) color the entire coloring page and 3) be more detail oriented, while extroverts would 1) utilize bolder, brighter colors 2) not color the entire coloring page and 3) be less detail oriented. This project was prompted by my interest in art and fascination with the Myers-Briggs Personality Categorizations. Methods The materials I used in this study were Myers-Briggs style personality tests, colored pencils, coloring pages, demographic surveys, and participant rubrics. My procedure included 92 participants who each completed a Myers-Briggs style personality test and short demographic survey and colored a presented picture. I analyzed each participant's completed image with the rubric, which measured amount of space covered, color intensity, and detail, then compared and correlated results from introverts to extroverts. Results My hypothesis was partially correct. While introverts color lighter and cover more space, extrovert images are more detailed, which I did not expect. Though my hypothesis was partially validated, variance between introverts and extroverts were small. Because of this, I expanded my study to investigate other factors including gender and the three other Myers-Briggs Personality categories. I surprisingly found that gender plays the most significant role. Not only are introverted males significantly less detailed than everybody else, but all males also color lighter and cover much less space than females. Conclusions While introversion and extroversion affect artistic expression, the data indicates that other factors play a larger role. The other three categories from Myers Briggs yielded greater impact than introversion and extroversion and gender turned out to be the biggest factor.

Competition history

• CSEF 2019 Behavioral & Social Sciences · Entry J0410

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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