This study examined the relationship between cognitive flexibility and the Big Five personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability in 221 college students. Cognitive flexibility and personality were measured using the Cognitive Flexibility Scale and Ten-Item Personality Inventory. Results found significant positive correlations between cognitive flexibility and extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience. This suggests that personality influences an individual's ability to adapt to changing situations and generate new ideas.

1. Second International Conference on Emerging trends on Commerce, Science,
Engineering, Management and Technology (Online)
ICCSEMT-2022
Organised by
Global Conference Hub, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India
Date: 27/08/2022 &
28/08/2022
Paper Title : Cognitive Flexibility and Big Five Personality Traits of College
Students
Presented by
Amrita U Nair,
Student – UG
Kristu Jyoti College of Management
and Technology
Authors Details
Amrita U Nair, Ann
Mariam Abraham, Merin
Mamachan, Siya
Basheer,
Nithya B Nair
Paper Id : 220823
Presenter Category : UG

2. ABSTRACT
• Personality- combination of distinct characteristics, schemas, emotions, opinions, and feelings
that segregate an individual from others.
• Cognitive flexibility-ability to adapt in the face of environmental change and to generate new
ideas that drive innovation and promote growth and discovery.
• Age group in which the study was conducted was 18-25.
• Sample- 221 college students.
• Sampling technique- convenience sampling.
• Scales- Cognitive flexibility scale and Ten-Item personality inventory.
• Results of this study show a significant correlation between cognitive flexibility and Big-five
personality traits.
• Keywords- Cognitive flexibility, Big-five personality traits, cognitive processes, behavioural
responses.

3. Introduction
• Cognitive flexibility- refers to a person's (a) awareness that in any given situation
there are options and alternatives available, (b) willingness to be flexible and adapt to
the situation, and (c) self-efficacy in being flexible(Martin and Rubin,1995).
• A person’s willingness to be flexible and adapt to a situation is associated with their
internal state awareness(Richmond and McCroskey,1989).
• Big-five personality theory- five basic factors describe most personality traits:
Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and
Conscientiousness.
• Since the five factor model is able to describe traits that give rise to
• individual differences as well as to assess and explain personality, it is regarded as
the most comprehensive model of personality (McCrae and John,1992).

4. Literature
Review
• There have been studies that investigated cognitive flexibility from the point of
view of executive function or cognitive control(Diamond, 2006).
• Cognitive flexibility has been analyzed in studies on autism or depression (Dennis
& Vander Wal, 2010).
• Studies have revealed that personality traits may affect the cognitive flexibility
(Murdock et al., 2013).
• Researchers have used the FFM to predict individual differences in numerous
settings: clinical, industrial and organizational, counseling (McCrae &Costa,
1991).

5. Methodology
• Sample: A sample of 221 from the emerging adulthood population was selected from
different colleges in Kerala state.
• Sampling technique: Convenience sampling
• Administered using Google Forms
• Data was analysed using SPSS- 28.0.1.1(14)
• Correlational research design
• Tools used:Cognitive flexibility scale and Ten-Item personality inventory.
• Cognitive flexibility scale -Martin, M. M., & Rubin, R. B. (1995) developed the cognitive
flexibility scale which is a 12-item inventory to measure the Cognitive Flexibility of
participants.
• The Pearson test-retest correlation between the two administrations was .83
• Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) -It had a six-week test-retest reliability of 0.72
(Gosling & Rentfrow, 2003)
• Factors- Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Openness
to Experience

6. Photographs / Simulation Pictures / Video Etc
relevant to the Experiment
Cognitive Flexibility
Extraversion 0.329**
Agreeableness 0.036
Conscientiousness 0.363**
Emotional Stability 0.382**
Openness to Experience 0.528**

7. REFERENCES
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Mehrad, A. (2020). A review of literature in applied five factor model of personality among staff at workplace.
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Martin, M. M., & Rubin, R. B. (1995). A new measure of cognitive flexibility. Psychological reports, 76(2), 623-
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•
Chung, S. H., Su, Y. F., & Su, S. W. (2012). The impact of cognitive flexibility on resistance to organizational
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•
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8. Thank you
Special Mentions (if any)