PERSONALITY TYPES AND STUDY HABITS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS IN BAGUIO

CITY

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION

The word “personality” is derived from the word persona,

which is Latin for mask, particularly one that performers wear

for their roles or as a disguise. Essentially, personality would

then refer to the pattern of thoughts, behaviors, and overall

characteristics that both make a person unique, as well as

predict and explain their behavior (Cherry, 2022). There have

been several attempts at labeling and categorizing what would

make up a person’s personality— for example, Carl Jung’s theory

comprised of attitudes (extraversion and introversion) and

functions of consciousness (sensation, intuition, thinking,

feeling); Eysenck’s theory attributed behavior to a number of

factors grouped under either extraversion/introversion or

neuroticism/stability; Cattell’s theory comprised of 16

personality factors (McLeod, 2021).

Another such example, which will be the focus of this study,

is the “Big Five” traits, which were explored by many

psychologists such as D.W. Fiske in 1949, Norman and Smith in

1967, Goldberg in 1981, and McCrae & Costa in 1987 (Cherry,

2021). This theory focused on whether a person was high or low in

the 5 qualities as follows: openness, conscientiousness,

extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Van Thiel (2022)

describes the traits as follows: openness refers to how much a

person likes and enjoys new things; conscientiousness for

reliability and organization; extraversion for whether energy is

gained or lost through interacting with others; agreeableness for

the level of friendliness and compassion; and, neuroticism for

the level of emotional stability.

On the other hand, another way for students to achieve good

academic performance is how they build a system of methods while

studying. Brav and Trejo(2021) state that it will bring a

negative impact on their academic performance as well as their

personal and professional training if they don’t have well-

established study habits. This finding focuses on college

students, however, this does not negate the implications for

other levels of students. Having solid study habits also helps

students adapt to advancing curriculums, tools, and knowledge.

Personality often refers to the differences that occur among each

individual. This means different individuals, different ways of

doing certain things, and different study habits for students. It

is important to note that study habits and personality have a

significant relationship with each other (Brav & Trejo, 2021).

Situational Analysis

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a

global pandemic at the beginning of 2020, putting the world on

edge. Due to government-imposed border restrictions, the

country’s economy has fluctuated as businesses and establishments

closed down. Families’ living conditions have also changed as a

result of the total lockdown, while schools and universities were

forced to cease on-campus teaching and fully transition to online

delivery (Limniou et al., 2021, as cited in Crawford et al.,

2020).

Indeed, no one could have predicted the dramatic change the

pandemic would bring; everyone had to go through adjustments from

traditional learning to suddenly shifting to the new normal. This

required instructors to adopt new teaching styles using various

digital tools to address the educational demands of learners

(e.g., recorded lectures, providing comprehensive notes,

scheduled video conferences, teaching through live chat, and

purely online monitoring of assessments). On the other hand,

learners have to put more effort into their self-regulated

learning, all the while facing a future of uncertainty. This

meant they would also have to modify their study habits to keep

themselves inclined and motivated to learn because study habits,

as Tus, Rayo, Lubo, & Cruz (2020) point out, are the foundation
of a student’s academic achievement. This includes everything

from how they take notes during lectures to which part of the day

they schedule their time to review or do their activities.

As the mode of learning has shifted from traditional face-

to-face to online distance learning, methods to support and

encourage learners to foster better knowledge with their study

habits must be considered. Students have different perspectives

and habits when it comes to studying, and one approach will not

work for everyone. Furthermore, individual differences between

learners must be pondered because their different personalities

and learning styles will impact their academic achievement.

Study habits have become one of the indicators of school

performance among students, and prior to the pandemic, students

could optionally choose a different set of learning to either

choose to study face-to-face or online. Now that there are safety

measures involved, like a homestay quarantine, study habits and

learning strategies have changed. It has also been an issue if

students could still learn in an online class alone, taking into

consideration those who have different learning styles as well.

It has been a question if education is still effective in that

way.

In a study by Paul & Jefferson (2019), they analyzed

students' performances in the Environmental Science Course from

2009 to 2016, comparing the two set-ups. The study aimed to know

which is effective over the course of eight years and it resulted

in their chi-square analysis a no significant difference, but to

the extended analysis because the population is not equal, it is

shown that online learners have relatively higher student

performance than those who are attending face-to-face classes. In

this regard, it can be implied that there are advantages of

online learning that correspond to the categories of study habits

like time management, since one of the characteristics of online

education is its flexibility.

According to the findings of Angkarini (2021), the first

indicator of study habits is time management, and both the male

and female population have equally good score categories. Having

good ability at managing time grants students the opportunity to

focus more on their studies, and anyone who has a job can still

attend an online discussion. This could also explain the findings

that both genders also have good and very good score categories

on class attendance other than being strictly regulated by

instructors about class participation.

In General Study Strategy, students' ways of accomplishing

assignments also changed. It can be viewed in their way of

searching for sources online to reach out to instructors for

guidance about the task, which became a very valuable strategy

needed for independent learning (Angkarini, 2021). However, the

adjustment of students to their study habits also contributed to

a negative impact. According to Aristeidou & Cross (2021), the

negative impact is hugely related to having difficulty in

workload management and minimal interaction among students. It

could be explained that the workload management difficulty is

associated with adjusting to new study habits, including some

other factors (i.e. study level). Additionally, because of the

minimal interaction among students, it may imply that other life

concerns (personal health, employment issues, etc.) are involved,

which is why it has had a negative impact on students.

On the findings of Giusti, et. al. (2021), prior to the home

quarantine, only 20% of students were used to studying

independently while the rest of 80% were used to having personal

study groups in different settings like open-spaces and

libraries, so they have to adjust their study habits now that

online learning is done virtually. It is also advisable for

universities to provide learners with an effective "social

support system" that could be some combination of sources (e.g.,

instructors, peers, other professionals), types (e.g., formal and

informal), and different formats of social support (e.g., pure

digital, hybrid) that fit well with the current pandemic

circumstances (Koob, et. al., 2021). Because with this kind of

adjustment, it may also become a predictor of students'

performance on which a study they mentioned investigating

academic achievements measured by students' grade point average

(GPA) approximately 60% of the students reported that they did

not achieve their academic goals.

There were also other variables that affected the ways of

how students adapted to the online set-up with their study

habits, and that also included technological difficulties.

According to Koob et. al. (2021), in order for the students to

adapt their study habits to the online set-up was to help them

improve their digital literacy and also give importance to their

needs and interests. They also explained that the availability of

suitable digital learning formats is associated with better study

engagement. This kind of association is not just with digital

teaching tools used but with digital formats that are

appreciatively useful. With this, students could maximize the

advantages of their digital use in online learning as their study

habits adjust as well. Although the problem that could arise is

that not all students can have enough digital resources that they

could use to maximize different digital formats.

Rationale

Knowingly, good study habits, whatever they may be, are the

transit to an individual’s development. Many learners will stick

to a habit that they believe is the best way to absorb

information. However, failing to recognize that relying on a

method that you believe is best without taking into account other

possible factors such as the person's learning capacity, among

others, would actually disadvantage knowledge acquisition.

On one hand, there is empirical evidence that personality

and academic motivation are important predictors of academic

performance (Hazrati-Viari, 2012). Given these facts, academic

motivation is critical to developing a working study habit.

Motivation, it has been suggested, influences not only study but

also learning behaviors. Of course, when one is intrinsically

motivated, learning would not be superficial in the sense of

being satisfied with course completion, but rather deep-seated,

which is flexible and can be applied to other situations.

This type of research is required due to pandemic-induced

changes in the learning environment and learning styles. Many of

us are engaged in online distance learning (ODL). It is well

known that everyone's study habits are different, and what works

for one person may not work for another. The aforementioned

phenomenal differences have an impact on the entire learning

process. The researchers are now looking for a specific version

of the relationship between personality type and study habit in

order to figure out what's missing.

Furthermore, a small change in study habits can make a big

difference in goal-setting and life organization (Sheebha, 2016).

As a result, a study is being prepared to help determine a

feasible learning habit for a relevant personality type in order

to cope with changing academic circumstances. In this regard,

introducing a study habit that is best suited for a learner would

bolster the teaching-learning process in the academe.

Learning how to study is a long-term process that is

influenced by a variety of factors, including one's behavior and

motivation. However, we should consider that an individual's

academic success is determined by his study habits.

 References

Hazrati-Viari, A., Rad, A. T., & Torabi, S. S. (2012). The

effect of personality traits on academic performance: The

mediating role of academic motivation. Procedia-Social and

Behavioral Sciences, 32, 367-371.

Sheebha, K. N. (2016). A study on relation between study habits

and personality traits of higher secondary students.

International Journal of Research Granthaalayah, 4(5),

40-43.