More threads by David Baxter PhD

David Baxter PhD

Late Founder
The personality of early risers
Thursday, August 23, 2007

Morning people, early risers. You know the type; you might even be one. They've already done the housework and gone for a jog while the rest of us are still blissfully cocooned in our beds. According to Juan Francisco Diaz-Morales, such people tend to be of a certain personality: they favour the tangible and concrete, they trust their experience and the observable over intuition and feelings; they have an attention to detail and a preference for logic. They are respectful of authority, care about social conventions and are rarely politically radical.

Diaz-Morales gauged the 'morningness' vs. 'eveningness' of 360 undergrads (275 were female) using the Composite Scale of Morningness. It's a 13 item scale that asks participants things like what time they typically get up and go to bed; how alert they feel in the morning; and when they are at the peak of their mental performance. He also measured the students' personality using the Millon Index of Personality Styles, a 180 item test with scales on what motivates people, their thinking style and how they relate to others.

Seventeen per cent of the women were classified as morning types, 61.8 per cent as intermediates, and 18.8 per cent as evening types. Among the men, 30.6 per cent were morning types, 50.6 per cent were intermediates and 18.8 per cent were evening folk.

In contrast to morning types, evening people preferred the symbolic over the concrete, were creative and risk-taking, and tended to be non-conformist and independent.

Diaz-Morales said these findings are ?a further step towards a more complete and integrated understanding of personality characteristics related to morningness and eveningness dimensions.?

Source: Diaz-Morales, J.F. (2007). Morning and evening types: Exploring their personality styles. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 769-778.
 

Peanut

Member
Wow! That is so interesting! Early morning person here and definitely not an abstract thinker--love the concrete and tangible! Cool article!
 

ThatLady

Member
Night owl checking in here. The article certainly hits home where I'm concerned. I'm definitely an abstract thinker. I guess one could even say that I'm non-conformist and independent ... :D
 

Bones

Member
Yes, interesting.
I am definitely a late riser myself.
And I've had difficulties in my life because of this, since society demands people to start their days early, for the majority of things.
I never feel at my best when getting up early, and its always been a constant battle all my life.
Its funny that evening folks were found to be more non-conformists and independent. It would take a non-conforming person to prefer to sleep in late all the time I think. :D
 

Mark Shaw

Member
I am a very early riser indeed and am also an abstract thinker and non conformist, but if i had the choice i would in different circumstances get up much later.
 
I'm definitely not a morning person...but definitely a non-conformist into the abstract and all of that. Interesting wish I could see the article without signing up on that site. Morning people don't seem to understand that just as they are early risers other people are the opposite. I hate being accused of being lazy or unmotivated because I stay up late and get up late. I've tried to explain that to other people but they think because they are that way (early riser), that everyone else is too.
 
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