Abstract
Scant research investigated the relationships between learning approaches and personality traits in the Chinese educational contexts. Therefore, the present study investigated the relationship between the Big Four model of personality types (or in other words, psychological types) and learning approaches among Chinese university students. The participants were 217 students from a university in China. Psychological types and learning approaches were assessed by surveys. The results showed that deep learning approach positively related to sensing-intuition and negatively related to extraversion-introversion and thinking-feeling. Surface learning approach positively related to judgement-perception. Psychological types accounted for approximately 11 percent of the variance in deep learning approach and around 10 percent of the variance in surface learning approach, after controlling for gender and year of study. Moreover, learning approaches were related to gender, year of study, and parents’ education levels. The influence of sociocultural contexts on students’ learning approaches and practical implications for education were discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Biggs, J. B. (1987). Student approaches to learning and studying. Hawthorn, Australia: Australian Council for Educational Research.
Biggs, J. B. (2001). Enhancing learning: A matter of style of approach? In L. F. Zhang & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), Perspectives on thinking, learning, and cognitive styles (pp. 73–102). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Biggs, J. B., Kember, D., & Leung, D. Y. P. (2001). The revised two-factor study process questionnaire: R-SPQ- 2F. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(1), 133.
Busato, V. V., Prins, F. J., Elshout, J. J., & Hamaker, C. (1998). Learning styles: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study in higher education. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 68(3), 427–441.
Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2008). Personality, intelligence and approaches to learning as predictors of academic performance. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(7), 1596–1603.
Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2009). Mainly openness: The relationship between the Big Five personality traits and learning approaches. Learning and Individual Differences, 19(4), 524–529.
Chamorro-Premuzic, T., Furnham, A., & Lewis, M. (2007). Personality and approaches to learning predict preference for different teaching methods. Learning and Individual Differences, 17(3), 241–250.
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO FFI): Professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Duff, A., Boyle, E., Dunleavy, K., & Ferguson, J. (2004). The relationship between personality, approach to learning and academic performance. Personality and Individual Differences, 36(8), 1907–1920.
Furnham, A. (2011). Personality and approaches to learning. In T. Chamorro-Premuzic, S. von Stumm & A. Furnham (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of individual differences. Chichester, West Sussex/Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Furnham, A., Christopher, A. N., Garwood, J., & Martin, G. (2007). Approaches to learning and the acquisition of general knowledge. Personality and Individual Differences, 43(6), 1563–1571.
Furnham, A., Dissou, G., Sloan, P., & Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2007). Personality and intelligence in business people: A study of two personality and two intelligence measures. Journal of Business and Psychology, 22(1), 99–109.
Furnham, A., Monsen, J., & Ahmetoglu, G. (2009). Typical intellectual engagement, Big Five personality traits, approaches to learning and cognitive ability predictors of academic performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79(4), 769–782.
Furnham, A., Moutafi, J., & Crump, J. (2003). The relationship between the revised NEO-Personality Inventory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Social Behavior and Personality, 31(6), 577–584.
Jung, C. (1923). Psychological types. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Kember, D., & Leung, D. Y. P. (1998). The dimensionality of approaches to learning: An investigation with confirmatory factor analysis on the structure of the SPQ and LPQ. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 68(3), 395–407.
Li, J. (2005). Mind or virtue: Western and Chinese beliefs about learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(4), 190–194.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (1989). Reinterpreting the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators from the perspective of the five-factor model of personality. Journal of Personality, 57(1), 17–40.
McPeek, R. W., Urquhart, C., Breiner, J. F., Holland, D. F., & Cavalleri, D. (2011). The impact on student academic performance and attitudes of psychological type and its introduction to the classroom. Journal of Psychological Type, 71(3), 54–71.
Myers, I. B., & McCaulley, M. H. (1985). Manual: A guide to the development and use of the Myers-Briggs type indicator. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists.
Phan, H. P. (2012). A sociocultural perspective of learning: Developing a new theoretical tenet. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education, University of Sydney, Sydney.
Phan, H. P. (2011). Deep processing strategies and critical thinking: Developmental trajectories using latent growth analyses. The Journal of Educational Research, 104(4), 283–294.
Phan, H. P., & Deo, B. (2008). ‘Revisiting’ the South Pacific approaches to learning: a confirmatory factor analysis study. Higher Education Research & Development, 27(4), 371–383.
Sadler-Smith, E. (1996). Approaches to studying: Age, gender and academic performance. Educational Studies, 22(3), 367–379.
Sadler-Smith, E., & Tsang, F. (1998). A comparative study of approaches to studying in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 68(1), 81–93.
Severiens, S., & Ten Dam, G. (1997). Gender and gender identity differences in learning styles. Educational Psychology, 17(1–2), 79–93.
Trigwell, K., & Prosser, M. (1991). Improving the quality of student learning: The influence of the learning context and student approaches to learning on learning outcomes. Higher Education, 22(3), 251–266.
von Stumm, S., & Furnham, A. (2012). Learning approaches: Associations with typical intellectual engagement, intelligence and the Big Five. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(5), 720–723.
Watkins, D. (1998). Assessing approaches to learning: A cross-cultural perspective. In B. Dart & G. Boulton-Lewis (Eds.), Teaching and learning in higher education (pp. 124–144). Melbourne, Australia: Australia Council for Educational Research.
Watkins, D. (2001). Correlates of approaches to learning: A cross-cultural meta-analysis. In L. F. Zhang & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), Perspectives on thinking, learning, and cognitive styles (pp. 165–195). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Watkins, D., & Hattie, J. (1981). The learning processes of Australian university students: Investigations of contextual and personological factors. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 51(3), 384–393.
Xie, Q. (2013a). Gender and age differences in intellectual styles. Research Studies in Education, 11, 240–248.
Xie, Q. (2013b). Intellectual styles: Their malleability, their associations, and their relationships between ability and personality traits. Doctoral dissertation, The University of Hong Kong.
Xie, Q. (2014). Validating the revised two-factor study process questionnaire among Chinese university students. The International Journal of Educational and Psychological Assessment, 16(2), 4–20.
Xie, Q. (2015). Intellectual styles: Their associations and their relationships to ability and personality. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 14(1), 63-76.
Xie, Q., & Zhang, L. F. (2014). Demographic factors, personality and ability as predictors of learning approaches. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, doi: 10.1007/s40299-014-0202-5.
Zhang, L. F. (2000). University students’ learning approaches in three cultures: An investigation of Biggs’s 3P model. The Journal of Psychology, 134(1), 37–55.
Zhang, L. F. (2003). Does the big five predict learning approaches? Personality and Individual Differences, 34(8), 1431–1446.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Xie, Q. (2016). The Predictive Power of Psychological Types for Learning Approaches Among Chinese University Students. In: King, R., Bernardo, A. (eds) The Psychology of Asian Learners. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-576-1_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-576-1_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-287-575-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-287-576-1
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)