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Psychology of Math Learning
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Personality Style Assessment Test Results
In Week 2 of this class, I'm asking everyone to take a Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) test online and to post your results in this thread. I would also like people to read about their personality assessment type and to write down any ideas they have about what aspects (if any) of that personality type might have an impact on your enjoyment/mastery of math (or lack thereof).
The free online MBTI test I would like everyone to take is at : http://www.mypersonality.info/ . You will have to create an account for the site, but it is free and is not disruptive (they don't keep sending you stuff).
I have created a Group Account on mypersonality.info where we can all display our results. That group site is : http://www.mypersonality.info/p2pumathpsych022011/ However, I believe I need your email to invite you into the group. I will invite the people for whom I have emails; email me at ccross@mindspring.com if you would like an invitation.
As we discussed last night, one of the best people writing about MBTI these days is Dr. David Keirsey. He sorts the 16 different MBTI types into four groups that he calls "Temperaments." I would suggest you also read his descriptions of your temperament/MBTI types at http://www.keirsey.com/4temps/overview_temperaments.asp
Thanks,
Carol
Results
*Personality Type:
Overseer
ESTJ (Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging)
*Temperament:
Protector
SJ (Sensing Judging)
After reading up on this personality type, it mentioned primary function of this personality is Extraverted Thinking which I think played major role in my math learning.
I like seeing an order to what I'm learning and be able to put all of it into an overall picture. When I was not able to see a logical reason for the methods or concept being taught, I would usually struggle. However, the one thing that also helped me in learning was being able to tie past concepts and subjects together with each other.
Personality Type:ESTP - The "Persuader"
Temperament: SP (Creator)
Primary Function: Extraverted Sensing
Multiple Intelligence
Logical/Mathematical: 80%
Naturalist: 75%
Intrapersonal: 70%
Visual/Spatial: 70%
Bodily/Kinesthetic : 65%
Interpersonal : 60%
Verbal/Linguistic : 60%
Musical : 20%
The Multiple intelligence test was clear for me, and the results are rather expected.
The personality type test contains too many names for me to make my own clear representation so I need more reading. I will explore Keirsey representations (hopefully in the WE) and go back with richer comments.
I will appreciate if you comment on my results if you want.
ENTP - The "Originator"
Temperament: NT (Intellectual)
Primary Function: Extraverted Intuition
Extraverted-Introverted
89%-11%
Sensing-Intuition
16%-84%
Thinking-Feeling
53%-47%
Judging-Perceiving
26%-74%
I like to invent (as the personality type says I should) and the idea that you can invent your own universes in mathematics has always been infinitely exciting for me. It's like Utopia come true. However, when it got down to working out the details at the research level of math...
Results: ESTJ, Overseer, Protector, Naturalist, Kinesthetic
ESTJ - The "Overseer"
Temperament: SJ (Protector)
Extraverted: 68% Introverted: 32%
Sensing: 74% Intuition: 26%
Thinking: 79% Feeling: 21%
Judging: 53% Perceiving: 47%
Multiple Intelligence
Naturalist 70%
Bodily/Kinesthetic 70%
Musical 65%
Interpersonal 60%
Logical/Mathematical 60%
Verbal/Linguistic 45%
Visual/Spatial 40%
Intrapersonal 35%
Have been reading up on the ESTJ personality type (including the Keirsey Temperament in which the result is Guardian-Supervisor) and I am honestly confused. Some of it is like me, but a lot is not. I am unable to relate these results to my math learning experience.
It is interesting to note that everyone so far who has posted their results to the Forum or on the My Personalities Group page have been Extraverts. This could be a coincidence....but I doubt it. Two things occur to me:
1. It is easier for Extraverts to share information about themselves; in fact, many of us strong Extraverted types relish it!
2. Because P2PU doesn't publish the email addresses of the class participants, I could only offer the My Personality group invitations to the people who had emailed me personally. Again, I don't find it surprising that those personal contacts to me have come from Extraverts, who are also more confortable or even more driven to reach out and make contacts with others.
But I would like to encourage the more introverted members of the class to also do the test and post their results. We want to explore what all different types of personalities find about their tendencies and those interrelationship with math.
In my case, I'm an ENFP--what Keirsey calls a Champion, or what My Personality labels as an Advocate. We are the original "save the world" people, working closely with people on issues we feel passionate about. Our lives are all about relationships, social values, and making a difference in the world.
So I have to say, looking back, I wasn't exposed to any of those things--people, values, passion, or changing the world--in my math classes. I was taught math in a very impersonal, isolated, abstract, and intellectual/dispassionate way. It's funny, because even in science, we were introduced to real people--Einstein and Newton and Darwin and Curie and such--and, of course, we worked in pairs in our lab assignments. But in math? I don't remember ever working on a team project or in pairs in math class. And I guess maybe I knew that Pythagorus was an actual person, but I honestly think that was the only real person that ever got mentioned in any of my math classes.
So no wonder I didn't like math! But I had never put all this together until I started writing this post. What a great class! :D
PS--I will say that is not my view of Math now. But that is largely due to having worked with Maria, who has opened my eyes to the ways that math can be social, emotional, creative, and transformational.
In reply to Seema's comment that her description doesn't really sound like her--it may be that you are more "on the cusp" between different extremes. You can get different results from different tests--these free ones are knock-offs of the "official" MBTI, which is psychometrically tested but costs $50 or something like that. So I would try a different test or two and see if they give you a different assessment that feels like it fits you better.
Another test that I like is: http://sminds.com/mbti/
Carol
Sorry have been lagging behind. Did the test thru http://sminds.com/mbti/ - found this one better as it gives you more options rather than just yes and no/this or that answers. Results
Introverted (I) 55% Extroverted (E) 45%
Sensing (S) 73.33% Intuitive (N) 26.67%
Thinking (T) 68.75% Feeling (F) 31.25%
Judging (J) 61.29% Perceiving (P) 38.71%
Your type is: ISTJ
ISTJ - "Trustee". Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.
seems like the STJ bit is recurrent....
I also made the test on sminds, and "found out" myself to be ESTJ instead of ESTP.
I think this could be possible because myself I cannot say whether I am more judging or perceiving.and the results on mypersonality gave 53% perceiving. our attitude might depend on the situation.
Anyway I don't think that there is a relationship between judging-perceiving and math learning.
I have a question: is there any tests to decide precisely how much we are abstract in our thinking.
I remember myself a little child counting the stairs at each floor of the building to see whether they are even or odd. and I make representations of mathematical concepts in my mind that I can deal (feel) them, and I don't know if people who don't like maths do the same may be because they are not able to make such representations they find maths too abstract to understand.
Results ENTP "Originator" temperament NT intellectual
Extraverted 68% Introverted 32%
Sensing 16% Intuition 84%
Thinking 58% Feeling 42%
Judging 42% Perceiving 58%
Im wondering if people "flip" im sure they must. In through grade 7 - 10 I was very introverted and shy. 11 grade and on I became much more extraverted for a number of reasons - partly because I made myself.
"Flipping" can sometimes happen, particularly on ones that you are close on, like your scores on Thinking/Feeling or Judging/Perceiving. However, especially as people are growing up, I think it is more likely that you were accessing your true personality. Many of us are "encouraged," shall we say, by schools, peers, and family to act in a way that is not our true nature. But as we get older and gain more control over our lives and our lifestyles, we start behaving more from our true style then we did when we are living by someone else's rules.
And being extraverted doesn't mean that you can't be shy, especially in those insecure adolescent years, just like being introverted doesn't mean you don't like to be with people. Extraverts gain energy from being around people--and the more extraverted your are, the more people you like to be around, both at a time and in general. Introverts find extended time with other people, especially groups of people, to drain their energy. So either type might go to a party and have a good time being around lots of people--but the introvert will come home and be tired and want to go to bed right away, while the extravert will be jazzed up and will probably have to do something to dissipate all the energy he/she has collected before being able to go to sleep.
Result ENFP "Advocate" or "Champion".
Extraverted 100% Introverted 0%
Sensing 11% Intuition 89%
Thinking 42% Feeling 58%
Judging 11% Perceiving 89%
There doesn't seem to be much discussion regarding whether I am Extroverted, Intuitive or Perceiving as the percentages are very large. I have a hard time figuring out whether I am more Thinking or Feeling because I exhibit strong tendencies for both. I am inventing or at least thinking up inventions constantly but I get very passionate about my causes such as providing the best educational opportunities for my college students even if others tell me "I can't do that." I have, in just over one year been called a "Loose Canon" by my department chair and was told that an administrator made the comment the "The adoption of technology at PHCC will not be determined by an adjunct!"
I have a hard time slowing down to wait for others to understand that my system works and my extrovertedness makes me to verbally let them know how I feel. My department chair convinced her department that there should be a set of "Science Standards" that outlaws the core of my teaching methods. They actually are the "Kurt Standards." Not only that, but she is monitoring five of my former students in their next level Chemistry class presumably to demonstrate that I my class is insufficiently rigorous. It is very difficult for me to hold back but there are two full-time Biology positions opening this year and I would really like to get one of them.
The department chair, incidently, has a reputation of being aa very, very hard professor and anyone who knows goes to another campus to avoid her.
My intuition trait allows me to read people's intentions easily. I believe that this is the trait that causes my "Absent-Minded Professor" difficulties. It also allows me to see solutions to problems that most others never would see on their own.
I think that my Perceiving trait is the reason that I stop by Busch Gardens when every I am in the area and ride a couple of roller coasters. I bungy-jumped just a few years ago (I am 60 this year). My risk-taking tendency is related to my desire to perceive.
You sound like a ball of fire, Kurt. I hope they give you a full time position, because you seem like a fabulous teacher to me!
One thing to remember is that being one trait or the other doesn't mean you NEVER do the opposite. We all have both traits within us all the time. So Feelers think and Thinkers feel. The key to this trait is which controls your decision-making--your thinking or your feeling. If you make decisions based on a logical quantification of the pros and cons, you are classified as a Thinker. If you make decisions based on your feelings--like, I know X is the "smart" decision, but Y makes me happy, so I'm going to do Y. So, for example, my family, who are all major Thinkers, can't understand why I homeschool, which to them looks like a dumb decision, since I've given up all my professional achievements and career and networks--not to mention getting NO INCOME. But providing the best environment for my son is the most important thing in my life right now, so it makes me happy to trade money and personal recognition/career for time with him and the many other children I teach for free through my homeschool group and spiritual center. Plus, homeschooling is really fun! It's great because, at least in North Carolina where there are only minimal requirements, I don't have to follow anyone else's rule or programs or curricula or policies. For those of us with N (following our own Intuition), F (following our feelings), and P (resisting close-ended situations), that is BLISS. We don't have to deal with rigid thinking department chairs....sorry that you do.
That was fun! I'm an INTP...
79% Introverted
100% Intuition
68% Thinking
95% Perceiving
I can't tell you how wonderful this is to have demonstrated in a test as I dream about math and then just write the stuff down! My right brain creates math that my left brain decodes and these results are spot on.
"NTPs are logical, individualistic, reserved, and very curious individuals. They focus on ideas, theories and the explanation of how things work. They are especially adept at discussions and debate. They have the ability to focus intently on a subject. They appreciate and respect intelligence in others."
This was like a mind-reading exercise as it completely (to me) explains how and why I've been able to create my new number system over the last 27 years...
""The INTP is above all a thinker and his inner (private) world is a place governed by a strong sense of logical structure. Every experience is to be rigorously analysed, the task of the INTP's mind is to fit each encountered idea or experience into a larger structure defined by logic."
and also...
"INTPs live in the world of theoretical possibilities. They see everything in terms of how it could be improved, or what it could be turned into. They live primarily inside their own minds, having the ability to analyze difficult problems, identify patterns, and come up with logical explanations. They seek clarity in everything, and are therefore driven to build knowledge. They are the "absent-minded professors", who highly value intelligence and the ability to apply logic to theories to find solutions."