Personality effects on pragmatic variation: The mapping between Chinese pre-sequences and proposal strategies

By incorporating the Big Five Personality Model, the present study examines the predictive role of personality traits in pragmatic variation during the bidirectional mapping between Chinese pre-sequences and proposal strategies. Two scenario-based experiments were designed around two mapping directions: (1) selecting a proposal strategy based on pre-sequence possibility, and (2) inferring pre-sequence possibility from the proposal strategy. Results confirmed the variation in both directions, with Open-Mindedness (Op) and Conscientiousness (Co) identified as the key personality traits linked to pragmatic deviations from default norms. Notably, these personality effects varied across pre-sequence and strategy conditions. Under the medium-possibility condition, both Op and Co showed practically meaningful positive effects. Op also exhibited stable effects in both low-possibility and withdrawing strategy conditions, but only positive tendencies in high-possibility and confirming strategy conditions. No meaningful effects were found in the tentative strategy condition. These findings indicate that the personality effects on pragmatic variation are context-dependent, providing new empirical evidence for understanding individual differences in pragmatic performance.