Abstract
This study investigated the relation between personality factors, as measured by the Swedish version of the NEO-FFI questionnaire, and the realism in older adults’ (aged 60–93 years, n = 1,384) probability confidence judgements of their answers to general knowledge questions. The results showed very small effect sizes for the contribution of the personality variables to the fit between the proportion correct answers and the level of one’s confidence judgements. Although personality differed somewhat within the age span studied and between the genders no differences were found in the relation between the dimensions of the NEO-FFI and the degree of realism in the confidence judgements as a function of age or gender. In total, the results show a significant but very small effect of personality on the realism in older adults’ confidence judgements of their semantic knowledge.
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Notes
The results for the realism in confidence judgments have been more extensively reported in Dahl et al. (2009).
Correctness was not used as a predictor for the metamemory measures since these are formal functions of Correctness and Confidence.
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Acknowledgments
The Swedish National study on Aging and Care (SNAC), is supported financially by the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and the participating county councils, municipalities and university departments. We are grateful to the participants and the participating counties and municipalities.
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Communicated by Hans-Werner Wahl.
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Dahl, M., Allwood, C.M., Rennemark, M. et al. The relation between personality and the realism in confidence judgements in older adults. Eur J Ageing 7, 283–291 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-010-0164-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-010-0164-2