Personality, motivation, and performance: A theory of the relationship between individual differences and information processing.

A general information-processing model is proposed that accounts for the systematic effects of these motivational states on certain task components (sustained information transfer and some aspect of short-term memory) and derive testable predictions that differentiate alternative motivational hypotheses.

Abstract

We introduce a model to relate the personality dimensions of introversion- extraversion, achievement motivation, and anxiety to efficient cognitive performance. We show how these personality dimensions in combination with situational moderators (e.g., success, failure, time pressure, incentives, time of day, and stimulant drugs) affect the motivational constructs of arousal and effort. We propose a general information-processing model that accounts for the systematic effects of these motivational states on certain task components (sustained information transfer and some aspect of short-term memory). We combine empirical generalizations about task components in a structural model and derive testable predictions that differentiate alternative motivational hypotheses.