Personality and social-evaluative anxieties associated with rating discomfort in anticipated positive and negative feedback conditions

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships between select personality dimensions, social-evaluative anxieties, and rating discomfort. Undergraduate students were told they would be giving test performance feedback to a confederate and were instructed on how to give this feedback, to some degree, based on condition. Correlation and regression analyses revealed some interesting patterns. Neuroticism was found to be significantly related to feelings of discomfort only under the positive feedback condition, while extraversion was found to be significantly related to feelings of discomfort only under the negative feedback condition. Asignificant inverse relationship was also found between both agreeableness and conscientiousness levels, and in reaction to giving positive feedback. Additional findings and implications are discussed.