PERSONAL NEED FOR STRUCTURE, THE EINSTELLUNG TASK, AND THE EFFECTS OFSTRESS

We examine the relationship between the personality variable of Person al Need for Structure (PNS) and problem solving on the Einstellung wat er-jar task. The Einstellung task was administered under stressful and nonstressful conditions. Results from 172 participants showed the pre dicted interaction between PNS and experimentally-induced stress: Part icipants higher in PNS were more likely to develop a mental set under stressful conditions. while no significant relationship was found betw een PNS and set development under nonstressful conditions. PNS was not related to perseveration on the Einstellung task, regardless of exper imental condition. These findings are consistent with recent research on the importance of contextual activation of personality. (C) 1998 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.