Texting and Self-Confidence: New Study from Psychology Professors Hassinger-Das and Trub Reveals Impact on Introverts and Extroverts

Associate Professors of Psychology Brenna Hassinger-Das, PhD, and Leora Trub, PhD, along with Paulette Didia, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist, co-authored a study, “Stuck in the DMs: The Association between Introversion/Extraversion and Self-Confidence through Text-Based Communication,” in Psychology of Popular Media, about how the impact of texting affects both introverts’ and extroverts’ self-confidence.

Hassinger-Das and Trub both teach courses in the BA in Psychology program on the New York City campus. Their study sheds light on how the motivations behind texting — whether to express oneself or to escape from reality — might influence the self-confidence of individuals with varying degrees of introversion or extraversion. The findings reveal some surprising relationships between personality dispositions, texting motivations, and self-confidence. They aim to explore whether the reasons people use texting—either to express themselves or to escape from uncomfortable situations—might alter the relationship between personality traits like introversion or extraversion and self-confidence.

In an article on MSN about the study, Trub said “In a world where people are constantly looking for simple answers and solutions (e.g. Is technology good or bad?), the fact is that the impact of technology (and in this study, texting specifically) differs based on the interaction between multiple things (in this study, personality characteristics and people’s motivations for texting).”