The Relationship Between Personality Temperament, Communication Reticence, and Fear of Negative Evaluation

This study examined the influence and relationships of the Big Five personality variables of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability (neuroticism), and openness to experience on communication reticence and fear of negative evaluation (FNE). Undergraduates from (N = 336) basic communication or psychology courses completed self-report measures for these variables. Structural equation modeling indicated that only one personality dimension, extraversion, directly predicted reticence, whereas neuroticism was positively related to FNE, and openness was a negatively associated predictor of FNE. The model also showed a strong relationship between FNE and reticence, indicating that FNE moderated the relationship between two of the five personality variables (i.e., openness and neuroticism) and reticence.