Being a morning person or a night owl does not just determine when you start or end your workday; your internal clock may help define your psychology as well. Some people need a lot of sleep, while others seem to get along fine on five or six hours a night. Some people follow the maxim of “early to bed, early to rise,” and turn in by 9:00 p.m. Others are called “night owls” because they prefer to stay up late.
Early risers prefer to gather knowledge from concrete information. They reach conclusions through logic and analysis. Night owls are more imaginative and open to unconventional ideas, preferring the unknown and favoring intuitive leaps on their way to reaching conclusions. Social behavior diverges as well: Morning people are more likely to be self-controlled and exhibit “upstanding” conduct; they respect authority, are more formal, and take greater pains to make a good impression. Evening people, by contrast, are “independent” and “nonconforming,” and more reluctant to listen to authority.