Assessment of Personality and Absorption for Mediated Environments in a College Sample

While technological advancement enhances the effectiveness and versatility of mediated environments, researchers have sought to better understand how endogenous characteristics of individuals relate to the ways in which mediated environments are experienced. Although the Big Five personality traits and absorption have shown marked relations with reports of immersion, further investigation of these traits is needed. In particular, there is need for a psychometrically sound model that integrates these concepts. The aim of this study was to build upon previous research looking at the Big Five personality traits, absorption, and immersion in a large sample of college-aged individuals. Results indicate that the Big Five traits of neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion are positively related to immersion and that openness to experience possesses the strongest relationship with immersive tendency overall. By integrating an established measure of absorption, a more psychometrically sound model was achieved.