learning-styles

LSRC reference Section 5
page 48/49
On the surface, the theory behind the MBTI appears
to be fairly simple. However, it is actually very complex
and casual users may have problems fully understanding
its implications. According to Myers and Briggs, each
four letter type represents a complex set of relationships
among the functions (S, N,T and F), attitudes (E and I)
and attitudes toward the outer world (J and P). These
various interactions are known as type dynamics.
(Fleenor 2001 9 )
Some commentators in the learning styles field prefer
to exclude the MBTI on the grounds that its scope as
a personality measure goes beyond cognitive controls
and behaviour specifically related to learning. However,
the scope of the MBTI includes learning, and it was
the authors’ intention that it should be a tool to aid
learners (Myers, cited by Di Tiberio 1996). The MBTI
was specifically designed as a tool to categorise
an individual’s personality type in general, and their
approaches to relationships with others. For this
reason, the MBTI differs in tone from other influential
personality trait theories, by being more positive
or neutral in its descriptors. This aspect may account
for its influence in the learning styles field, where
theorists who have drawn upon it have tended to
emphasise descriptors of normal behaviour and
reactions, rather than the identification of pathological
traits or tendencies.
Miller (1991, 217) argues for the relevance of the MBTI
in the learning styles field, since ‘many well-established
conceptions of “learning styles”, such as Pask’s …
reflect [a] cognitive emphasis … at the expense
of affective and conative’ aspects. Others have tried
to circumvent this problem by selecting the particular
sections of the MBTI that they consider most relevant
to learning. For example, Claxton and McIntyre (1994;
Claxton et al. 1996) focus on ‘sensing-intuition and
thinking-feeling … the combination of an individual’s
preferred information-intake mode with the preferred
mode of decision making’ (1994, 752), although there
may be some methodological reservations about this
‘pick and mix’ approach. If the instrument has been
designed to provide a holistic view of the individual,
selecting and omitting scales may prejudice the validity
of its research.
Evaluation: reliability and validity
The face validity of the MBTI is generally accepted
as fairly sound by researchers from personality theory
backgrounds, with the caveat (not accepted by MBTI
researchers, see quote from Quenck 2003 above) that
the omission of neuroticism is a theoretical weakness
(Eysenck and Eysenck 1985).
There has, however, been considerable debate about
the construct validity of the MBTI, particularly in
relation to the bimodality of the four dimensional
scales. Researchers generally agree that bimodality
has not been demonstrated in any of the dimensions
(Hicks 1984; McCrae and Costa 1989); indeed,
some argue that the bipolarity of all four scales is
unsubstantiated. Girelli and Stake (1993) confirm
that introversion-extraversion, sensing-intuition
and thinking-feeling are not incontrovertibly bipolar,
when tested in Lickert format on 165 undergraduate
and postgraduate students, since more than a quarter
of the subjects in their study scored highly on both
pairs of a dimension. They argue (1993, 299) that as
a result of these findings, ‘not only the format of the
MBTI but the theoretical premise of bipolarity and type
differentiation has (sic) been brought into question’.
Bess and Harvey, in their analysis of 48,638 MBTI
questionnaires completed by managers, found (2002,
185) that previous reports of bimodality on all four
scales had been ‘artifacts caused by the particular
number (and location) of the quadrature points used
by default in BILOG’ – in effect, processing errors.
They conclude that ‘the absence of empirical bimodality
… does indeed remove a potentially powerful line
of evidence that was previously available to ‘type’
advocates to cite in defence of their position’.
One of the most telling criticisms is that the
forced-choice format is inappropriate: ‘the ipsative
scores that derive from forced-choice measures tend
to yield negative intercorrelations that are difficult
to interpret’ (Girelli and Stake 1993, 291). Moreover,
if the dimensions are genuinely bipolar, then this will
be evident even when subjects are not forced to choose
(Loomis and Singer 1980). Furthermore, the MBTI
has no lie scale, nor any measures designed to tap into
respondents’ inclination to make socially acceptable
responses (Boyle 1995), although the latter is dealt with
statistically by the IRT selection and scoring method
used for Form M (Quenck 2003).
9
Page numbers are not available for online Buros reports from the
Mental Measurements Yearbooks.