Transcript Document

Study on Personality and Loneliness among the
students of IIT Hyderabad
-Jayashankar ( ES12B1011)
Under the guidance of Dr. Amrita Deb
Indian Institute of Technology
Hyderabad
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Introduction
The objective of this study was to investigate the psychometrics
characteristics of revised UCLA scale and personality among the
students of IIT Hyderabad.
Big Five personality Traits
The Big Five traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeable-ness,
and conscientiousness) described by the Five Factor model of personality
(Costa & McCrae, 1992) have been related to a wide range of behaviours
including academic achievements and job performance. In this survey we
have interrelated two of its traits to the loneliness factor.
UCLA Loneliness scale
The most common loneliness scale used in United States is the revised
UCLA Loneliness Scale of Russell, Peplau and Cutrona(1980). The
psychological variables that best predicted the loneliness were happiness,
social anxiety, social acceptance and public self consciousness.
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Personality is the particular combination of emotional, attitudinal, and
behavioural response patterns of an individual. Different personality
theorists present their own definitions of this the word based on their
theoretical positions.(Wiki Definition)
Loneliness is a complex and usually unpleasant feeling in which
a person feels a strong sense of emptiness and solitude. The causes of
loneliness are varied, but it can be affected by social, mental, emotional,
and spiritual factors.(Wiki Definition)
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In case of Personality Traits, in this survey we are dealing with
two factors namely Neuroticism and Extraversion.
Neuroticism is a fundamental
personality trait in the study of
psychology, manifested by
characteristics of anxiety, moodiness,
worry, envy and jealousy.
The trait of extraversion–introversion
is a central dimension of human
personality theories.
Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more
likely than the average to experience such feelings
as anxiety, anger, envy, guilt, and depressed mood.
They respond more poorly to environmental
stress, and are more likely to interpret ordinary
situations as threatening, and minor frustrations
as hopelessly difficult.
The terms introversion and extraversion were first
popularized by Carl Jung, although both the popular
understanding and psychological usage differ from
his original intent.
Extraversion tends to be manifested in outgoing,
talkative, energetic behaviour, whereas introversion
is manifested in more reserved, quiet, shy
behaviour.
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Method
Several students of IIT Hyderabad (60.7% males and 39.3% females)
completed the two factors of Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), the UCLA
loneliness scale, demographic data (gender, age, blood group). The
majority were freshmen of B.Tech and all the participants for the study
ranged between 18 and 24 years.
The 20-item UCLA Loneliness scale assesses how people sometimes
experience. The participants were asked to indicate how often she or he
experiences that way (never/rarely/sometimes/always) for each
question.
The 60-item NEO-FFI is the most widely used measure of the Big Five
personality traits, with well-established reliability and validity. In the
present study, we have used only two factors out of five factors, so it
turned out to be 24-item scale. In the same way as UCLA scale people
are asked to indicate their responses for the questions.
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Result: The table below given is the mean score for loneliness.
High mean scores indicate high degree of loneliness.
According to the values evaluated it can be inferred that girls
experience more loneliness than boys
Standard Deviation
Boys: 7.38
Girls: 4.32
BOYS
39
GIRLS
54
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
LONELINESS SCALE
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Result: The table below given is the two of five factor
inventory, where these are the mean values recorded for both
factors correspondingly each to boys and girls.
EXTRAVERSION
Standard Deviation
Boys: 5.36
Girls: 4.84
NEUROTICISM
0.63
BOYS
0.54
0.69
GIRLS
0.67
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
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0.7
0.8
0.9
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DISCUSSION
Our results provide strong support that girls
experience loneliness comparatively greater than
boys.
In case of neuroticism, it is found that many
students especially girls have scored high in the
neuroticism scale which means these students are
more likely to experience feelings like anxiety,
anger etc.
In case of both boys and girls it is found that
extraverts are considerably higher in number
than introverts which is a good sign. It means
many people are sociable and friendly.
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Suggestions
 In case any person is willing to conduct such a survey, they are
requested to include large number of participants for better
results.
 While conducting the survey take care that questions are asked
in simple language or explained propel to the participants.
References
Meera Kommaraju, Steven J. Karau, Ronald R.
Schmeck(2008), Learning and Individual Differences: Role of
the Big Five personality traits in predicting college students'
academic motivation and achievement
Russell, D. W. (1996). UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3):
Reliability, validity, and factor structure. Journal of Personality
Assessment, 66,20-40.
Felix Neto (1992), Social Behaviour and Personality:
Loneliness among Portuguese Adolescents
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