The effects of extroversion on influence in ambiguous group tasks

Although the generic patterns that groups follow in reaching consensus on p roblem-solving tasks have been examined in detail, little attention has bee n given to the role of personality in group decision making. One personalit y variable that would seem to be especially relevant to group decision maki ng is the extroversion levels of the group members. This study examines the effects that member extroversion has on the group decision-making process. As predicted it was found that participants with the highest level of extr oversion in their group were more influential than other group members unde r certain conditions. Three factors were found to suppress the influence of entroverts: the existence of a dominant faction within the group, a lack o f relevant task information, and an excess of task ambiguity These results indicate that examining groups at a social permutation level may improve ou r knowledge of the group decision-making process.