The Relationship Between Personality Types And Learning Styles

Introduction

Everyone has their own personality type as well as their own learning style. Researchers have found understanding your own personality type and learning style, can be important when it comes to advancing your learning (Brownfield, 1993). The purpose of this correlation study is to determine the relationship between personality types and learning styles. Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, “viewed differences in behavior to be the result of innate preferences that remained fairly consistent throughout life” (Breckenridge, 2014, np). In 1921, he published Psychological Types (Jung, 1921), that would later become the base for the development of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Miller, 2001). The MBTI consists of four preferences each with two sides. Jung referred to the first two preferences as attitudes; introversion and extroversion (Rimmerman,2005,). Introverts those who receive stimulation from within, they tend to be more withdrawn. Introverts prefer a quiet learning environment, and to work alone, however, they do enjoy a lecture formatted class . Whereas extroverts get their stimulation from the environment and tend to be more social

They believed people generally learn in one of the three styles; visual, auditory or kinesthetic/tactile. This model focuses on the way people take in information (Willis, 1999). Visual learners retain information best when watching a video or reading. They generally follow directions well, are very organized and can easily visualize objects. Auditory learners retain information best when listening whether it be a lecture or an audiotape. They respond well to lectures and can write and listen well, and they study best in groups. Kinesthetic/ tactile learners want to move while they learn. They enjoy hands-on experiments, moving around while working and they tend to doodle during lectures, they prefer discussion-oriented