Effect of Big Five Personality Types on Students Learning Outcomes among Senior Secondary Schools in Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study researched the relationship between personality type and learning outcomes among senior secondary school students in Edo State, Nigeria. It sought to show how each of the big five personality dimensions of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Introversion would predict cognitive, psychomotor, and affective learning outcomes. This was a quantitative study. The design used was a survey involving 117 secondary school students and 16 teachers. The main instrument used was a questionnaire. Multiple regressions were performed when analyzing the collected work. Results showed that openness to experience, extraversion, introversion are significantly positively associated with cognitive and affective learning outcomes, while conscientiousness is significantly negatively related to cognitive learning outcome, and agreeableness is significantly negatively related to the cognitive learning outcome but is not significantly related to psychomotor and affective outcomes. These results appear to support the findings that personality types do make a remarkable difference in the reasons for the learning outcomes among secondary school students. Educators and policymakers need to consider directing their programmes toward personality-related interventions, including personality tests for the students, as these may play a role in enhancing the student learning outcomes. Personalized learning approaches should be provided based on the student's personality type, and self-awareness about personality weaknesses and strengths. Future research should find out how the longitudinal effects of personality on the learning outcome could be influenced by personality in terms of some subjects or skills.