Personality Development
Myer-Briggs Type Indicator
Many individuals appear to know themselves quite
well. That is, they can accurately predict with a particular problem or
situation, their initial response or impulse. However, even individuals
who have a strong sense of self-understanding usually find it difficult
to describe the traits in words that best fit their character. After
writing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) questionnaire, a person
is evaluated based on their own interests, values, and unique gifts.
Often, the reported type (a combination of four opposing preferences:
extraversion versus introversion; sensing versus intuition; thinking
versus feeling; and judging versus perceiving) complements the person’s
personality fairly accurately. This test is reliable and has shown to
produce three or four type preferences that are the same 75% to 90% of
the time on retests (MBTI, 2008). The validity of this questionnaire
helps to understand and predict the person’s behaviour, as well as to
differentiate the values, attitudes, and behaviours of different people
(MBTI, 2008). Understanding one’s own personality preferences and
learning about the rich diversity of the many other types plays a vital
role in educating. Knowing a student's personality type helps to guide
teachers to significantly more effective educational strategies than
they could have arrived at by relying on conventional approaches. It is
the teacher's responsibility to put an emphasis on each student’s
interests, values, and distinctive gifts by using modified teaching
strategies that dynamically suit their personal needs, in order to
create a learner-friendly environment.
Figure 1. A chart displaying the
sixteen different personality types associated with the MBTI
questionnaire.
When teachers first encounter their students for the
semester, it is important to distinguish early on their most natural
energy orientation; that is, do they possess extraverted or introverted
characteristics? A simple, yet equivocal test would be to ask an
open-ended question and then see who are first to put up their hand.
Extroverts usually act first, think and reflect later, while introverts
think and reflect first, then act. Acknowledging this behaviour can
provide an educator with an abundance of information regarding their
students as they start off a new semester. For instance, to accommodate
both personality types, teachers can offer their students the option to
work in groups or to work alone. Some students work better alone because
they get more work completed, while others tend to work better in
cooperative efforts. When performing a demonstration, a teacher may also
find it more effective to call-up students who are interested in
watching; extroverts are usually open to and motivated by the “outer
world of people and things.” Students who prefer introversion may find
it hard to concentrate during a demonstration, especially when
one-to-one communication is preferred. Moreover, it is essential for a
teacher to know which way a student understands something most
naturally. Learners who are the sensing type usually gain insight by
relying on their senses. They prefer to categorize information and
organize it in a manner in which they can effectively recollect for
future references. Students of this type enjoy working on labs, because
it provides them with the opportunity to learn firsthand without having
to sort through ambiguous details when reading a textbook. On the
contrary, learners who prefer intuition are comfortable reading out of
textbooks or copying notes from an overhead projector, as they use their
imagination and creativity to formulate patterns. If a teacher chooses
to present information using an overhead, both learner types could be
satisfied if the information includes a mixture of both words and
diagrams. When writing a test, if students feel uncomfortable memorizing
facts, a teacher should provide the students with the option to explain
a fact using patterns or symbols. If these teaching strategies are
implemented, it will help students feel comfortable in class and learn
to express themselves better.
Students burdened to face their bully on a daily
basis can become a major distraction from learning – especially if they
are the feeling type. Students of this type are unsettled by conflict
and disharmony, while students of the thinking type consider conflict as
a normal part of relationships with people. A teacher who is aware of a
student’s unusual absence from class or a slippage in grades should
responsibly analyze the cause of the problem and provide objective
solutions for the student to consider when in conflict. Finally, it is
essential for a teacher to recognize that not all students who enter
high school know how to take lead, as in making good decisions and
taking action. Students who preferred the perceiving type in elementary
school may discover that planning ahead of time in high school works
better than moving into action without a plan. Therefore, teachers
should put an emphasis on organization, especially during the junior
years of secondary schooling by constantly checking their binders. Test
and assignment dates should also be clearly assigned well in advance;
this will allow students of the judging type to focus on task-related
actions and avoid deadline stress.
