The MBTI Type of character partially predicts the difference in school achievement of medical students

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Individual character partially determines the preferred learning styles. As the pedagogy of adult learning evolved into self-directed learning new teaching methods such as problem-based learning(PBL) were reinforced into the traditional lecture and bed side teaching. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between types of character and academic achievement in undergraduate medical education. Methods: One hundred and forty four senior medical students in Hanyang University College of Medicine participated in the study. They took the MBTI(Myer-Briggs Type Indicator) test and were classified into four pairs of preferences and then into sixteen types of character. We compared the difference in credits achieved during the past three grades(basic science, integrated lectures, and clinical medicine), evaluation scores in PBL, and objective structured clinical examination(OSCE) scores among groups of different character. Results: The mean age of study subjects was 22.5 years(range, 22-36 years). Male comprised 75.9 percents of students. Thirty seven students(25.7%) reported ISTJ, 19 ones(13.2%) ISTP, and 16 ones(11.1%) ESTJ, and 10 ones(6.9%) ENFP. The differences in the 2nd and 3rd grade credits were statistically significant(P=0.005, P=0.0002 each). The mean credits of past three grades were high in INFJ, ENTJ, ESTP, ESFJ, and ESTJ groups in descending order and those were low in ESFP, ISFJ, INFP, ENFP, and ENTP groups in ascending order. There was no significant difference in the scores of OSCE, process evaluation and triple jump test of PBL. T(Thinking) students achieved better compared to F(Feeling) ones in mean credits and OSCE scores. J(Judging) students did better than P(Perceiving) ones in mean credits, history taking of OSCE, and triple jump test during PBL. Neither whether E(Extraversion) or I(Introversion) nor whether S(Sensation) or N(Intuition) showed any significant difference in school achievement. Conclusions: T(Thinking) and J(Judging) medical students have the advantage of F(Feeling) and P(Perceiving) ones in school achievement of some area. The difference in learning styles dependent on types of character needs to be considered when implementing a teaching method.