Does Personality Influence Engagement in Mobile ‘Phone Tasks?

Drivers’ propensity to engage in a telephone conversation and text messaging was observed in a driving simulator study and compared to self-reported engagement in such tasks in the real world. As sensation seeking has been linked to unsafe driving behaviours and self-reported driving violations, drivers were preselected for the study using the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking. In general, drivers’ observed engagement with their mobile phone was not as high in the driving simulator as their self-reported declarations. Some differences were found between the high and low sensation seekers, with more phone calls executed by the high sensation seekers and more text messages performed by the low sensation seekers. Self-report results showed higher engagement in hands-held conversations and text messaging by high sensation seekers.