психологические типы sj nt

The Relationship Between Psychological Type and Professional Orientation Among Technology Education Teachers Robert C. Wicklein and Jay W. Rojewski Technological change in the work force is a critical problem in business and industry, precipitating the quick obsolescence and emergence of job skills and training ( ). describes the tremendous change that has occurred within our society as convulsive. Change is also perhaps, the most appropriate term to describe the reformation that is currently taking place in the field of technology education. Changes in the goals, activities, instructional methodologies, and types of instructional programs within technology education has caused considerable debate within the profession. Indeed, the instructional field of technology education has undergone radical changes in past years. Ever since the pioneering curricular efforts of William Warner in the late 1940's technology education has progressively strived to move beyond a product-based curriculum to a more process-based curriculum that strives to encourage and develop higher-order thinking in students ( ). The decade of the 1990s promises to bring even more significant changes to the field of technology education. The development of the Conceptual Framework for Technology Education ( ) presented both a theoretical and practical approach to understanding the instructional goals and objectives of technology education. Further, current efforts to develop curricula that integrates technology education with science and mathematics is currently viewed as a significant focus of change for the field ( ; Wicklein & Schell, 1995) that will have serious impact on the field of technology education in the coming years (LaPorte & Sanders, 1993; Scarborough, 1993; Wicklein & Schell, 1995). The debate over changes that have been made in the field of technology education and the current direction of the field has created a certain degree of tension within the profession (Bell & Erekson, 1991; Clark, 1989; Hansen, 1993; Justice, 1986; Lewis, 1992; Schilleman, 1897; Sinn, 1991; Zuga, 1989). Differing and sometimes opposing views regarding the successes and failures of the technology education movement continue to influence the direction and composition of technology education programs. Despite the philosophical changes proposed by the profession, there exist several concerns about acceptance, implementation, and program survival. Without exception, every state has orchestrated some form of technology education however, divergence of acceptance and application continues to pervade the profession at all levels (Rogers, 1992). The current study investigated the relationship between psychological type and professional orientation among educators in the technology education field of study. Psychological type theory (Myers & Briggs, 1975) provides a construct that explains individual propensities toward favored or natural behaviors and abilities. By understanding psychological type preferences of technology education professionals, we may be able to gain insights into the reasons for specific professional orientation. Theoretical Framework Jung's theory of psychological type is one of the most comprehensive theories developed to explain human personality (Lawrence, 1982; Plessman, 1985). Jung (1923) theorized that what appears to be random variation in human behavior is actually quite orderly, logical, and consistent, and is the result of a few basic differences in mental functioning and attitude. These observable differences affect what people perceive, as well as how they draw conclusions about those perceptions (Lamberth, Rappaport, & Rappaport, 1978; Myers, 1980; Myers & McCaulley, 1985; Vogt & Holder, 1988; Weade & Gritzmacher, 1987; Zeisset, 1989). Jung categorized and explained individual differences in terms of function and attitude. Four basic mental functions (processes) each represent a characteristic way of approaching experience and are considered to be the essence of Jung's personality theory. Each of the four functions - sensing, intuition, thinking, and feeling - involve an individual's orientation toward self and the environment through the use of perception and judgment (Myers & McCaulley, 1985). Jung believed that in order for individuals to function well they must have a way to perceive a stimulus (i.e., perception through sensing or intuition) and to make an adequate response to that perception, i.e., making a decision or judgement through thinking or feeling (Lamberth et al., 1978; McCaulley, 1980). Perception refers to ways in which an individual becomes aware of things, people, events, or ideas in the environment and is divided into two categories-sensing and intuition. Sensing describes a preference to focus on concrete aspects of a situation by using one or more of the five senses. Alternately, intuition describes the focus of attention on abstract ideas made through possibilities, meanings, and relationships (i.e., hunches) associated with a concrete situation. Judgement is used to describe the way in which a conclusion is reached about that which has been perceived and includes decision making, evaluation, and selection of an appropriate response to a stimulus. Judgement is also divided into two categories - thinking and feeling. Thinking is a function which links ideas together through logical connections and leads to an impersonal finding. Feeling, on the other hand, describes a rational act of evaluation using subjective values and relative merits of the issues (Lawrence, 1982; Myers, 1980; Plessman, 1985; Weade & Gritzmacher, 1987; Zeisset, 1989). The two attitude types, extraversion and introversion, describe how an individual prefers to engage the environment and use the four basic mental functions. Extraversion and introversion are seen as complementary orientations toward life (Jung, 1923). Extraversion defines the actions of individuals who prefer an orientation to the outer world of people, places, and things. Introversion describes a preferred orientation toward the inner world of thoughts, concepts, and ideas (Lamberth et al., 1978; Lawrence, 1982; Myers & McCaulley, 1985). Past Studies on Psychological Type The Keirsey-Bates Temperament Sorter (Keirsey & Bates, 1978) is one of several instruments used to measure personality type preference. Modeled after the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Myers & Briggs, 1975), the Keirsey-Bates Temperament Sorter provides a framework for determining predispositions toward favored or natural tendencies in human behavior ( ). Based on Jungian psychological theory (Plessman, 1985) both type preference instruments seek to determine how people consciously prefer to attend to the world, how they choose to perceive that to which they attend, and how judgements are made about those perceptions (Lawrence, 1982; Schultz, 1985). Knowledge of an individual's psychological type preference can have far-reaching implications for understanding and interpreting human behavior (Foster & Horner, 1988). Research has demonstrated that career choice, as well as success and satisfaction with one's chosen career, is often consistent with one's personality characteristics (Plessman, 1985; Vogt & Holder, 1988). Psychological type has been shown to affect how students learn, how teachers teach, how leaders lead, and how everyone works and communicates (Elias & Stewart, 1991; Foster & Horner, 1988). Lawrence (1982) asserted that teachers with distinct personality types were predictably attracted to different levels of teaching and to different subject matter. Howard (1992) has used the MBTI to measure career issues related to medical career specialties. His research evaluated the effects of personality type differences on education and career guidance, physician well-being and satisfaction, and physician ordering of laboratory tests. Although Howard (1992) indicated varying degrees of criticism regarding inappropriate uses of MBTI, his results provided a strong rationale for use of psychological type preference research in career guidance and planning. Barrett (1991) evaluated the relationship of observable teaching effectiveness with personality type preferences in teaching vocational-related courses. He found that certain personality styles had greater ease or difficulty in achieving high teaching effectiveness scores. Felder and Silverman (1988) analyzed the teaching and learning styles of engineering professors and their students using the MBTI. Their findings identified that the learning styles of most engineering students and teaching styles of most engineering professors were incompatible on several dimensions. Whereas most engineering students were visual, sensing, inductive, and active, most engineering education centers around auditory, abstract, deductive, passive, and sequential instruction. These researchers summarized that the disparity of instructional and learning preference they observed had created a negative impact on the field of engineering. In a somewhat similar analysis, McCaulley (1976) evaluated 3,867 college students to determine psychological type preference using the MBTI. A subset of this student sample was comprised of 194 engineering majors. McCaulley sought to determine whether certain psychological types were significantly interested or uninterested in specific engineering specialties. Overall analysis revealed that 62% of engineering majors were classified as introverts (I), 52% preferred a sensing (S) approach to perceiving and learning, 59% preferred an analytical or thinking (T) approach to decision making, and 60% preferred a judging (J) classification pertaining to applying decisions to specific environments. This type profile differed from the total student sample who displayed the following psychological type preferences: 52% extroversion (E), 53% intuition (N), 63% feeling (F), 50% judging (J) and 50% perceptive (P) preferences. Differences in the type preferences of engineering majors compared with non-engineering majors are one indicator of the impact that psychological type preference has on career choice. McCaulley (1976) postulated that the premise of type theory on predicting attainment of career satisfaction is based on the following criteria: Individuals finding occupations whose tasks require them to use their preferred styles of perception and judgment in the attitudes they prefer, so that the tasks have intrinsic interest and satisfaction; High standards constantly challenging them to develop their powers, so that they continue to grow in the excellence of their type; Individuals that are also required to "go against the grain" from time to time, so that they develop those aspects of their personalities not yet perfected. (p. 735) McCaulley's application of psychological type theory may have a significant influence on the field of technology education as the profession changes in scope and purpose. Edmunds & Schultz (1989) sought to determine the psychological type groupings of seconda