Abstract
M.A.
The goal of the present study was to investigate the relationship between
personality traits, attitudes towards the Internet, and Internet use. This study
was regarded as important because the Internet is increasingly becoming an
important part of everyday life, and is changing society as we know it.
224 third year psychology students participated in the study. The existing
literature indicated that the personality traits of Extraversion and Openness to
Experience were likely to influence Internet use. Attitudes could also be
expected to influence volitional behaviour, such as voluntary Internet use.
Other research has also found exposure to be positively related to attitudes.
A self-constructed questionnaire collected information relating to computer
and Internet use, as well as attitudes towards the Internet. A short personality
measure, namely the Saucier (1994) 40-ltem Mini-marker set, was used to
measure the personality traits of participants.
Examination of the results obtained through correlational and multiple
regression techniques supported the existing theory. The personality traits of
Extraversion and Openness to Experience were found to predict Internet use
in certain situations, with Openness emerging as particularly important in
understanding computer and Internet use. Attitudes formed by exposure to
the Internet, as measured by the self-constructed Internet exposure scale,
was found to correlate positively with time spent on the Internet.
The study support previous studies which found that the personality traits of
Extraversion and Openness influence media use, and suggest that this
influence is also present in relation to Internet use. It also supported the
theory that a positive relationship exists between attitudes towards the
Internet, specifically attitudes formed by exposure, and frequency of Internet
use.