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PERSONALITY
DISPOSITIONS AND THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
ABSTRACT
This study
examined the influence of Personality Dispositions and Academic Achievement
among University of Lagos Students. In this study, the relevant and related
literatures were reviewed under selected sub-headings. The descriptive research
survey was used in this study in order to assess the opinions of the selected
respondents with the application of the questionnaire and the sampling
technique. A total of 200 (two hundred) respondents were selected and used in
this study to represent the entire population of the study. Four null
hypotheses were formulated in this study and tested accordingly using the
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient statistical tool for hypotheses
one and the independent t-test statistical instrument for hypotheses two, three
and four respectively. At the end of the analyses, the following results were
obtained, there is a significant relationship between personality dispositions
and undergraduate students' academic achievement at University of Lagos, there
is a significant relationship between truancy and students' academic
achievement at University of Lagos, there is a significant relationship between
positive peer-grouping and undergraduate students' academic achievement at
University of Lagos and there is a significant relationship between negative
behaviours and students' academic performance at University of Lagos. Based on
the data analysis and the findings obtained thereafter, it is recommended that
conformity to school rules and regulations should be promoted in school and society
through concerted efforts of parents and teachers, school managers, government
and non-governmental agencies as well as other agents of socialization in
society the church, the mosque and the mass media and Students should be
inculcated with sound moral and religious principles and teachings in the
school curriculum, it can be a sure way toward the control of delinquent and
deviant behaviours.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background
to the Study
Every
individual is a unique being. No two individuals are exactly the same, not even
identical twins. This uniqueness may be referred to as individual
differences. However, despite the
diversity in our individuality, people still share certain characteristics with
others. Undergraduates students are not in any way exempted from these
individual differences. Each undergraduate is unique and possesses some
personality dispositions that generally distinguish him or her from every other
undergraduate student in the tertiary institution. According to Makinde (2004),
traits are distinguishable and relatively enduring way in which one man is
different from another through personality variables. Personality dispositions
or traits are definite, idividualized characteristics that typify a person and
make such a person different from every other person in the society.
According to
Kagan et al (1990) in Osarenren (2002), personality is the total pattern of
characteristic ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that constitutes the
individual’s distinctive method of relating to the environment. This pattern of
characteristics makes an individual to behave in a particular manner and these
personal characteristics make the individual to be accepted or rejected in the
society. Not only that, the personality of an individual undergraduate student
of any institution makes or mars his/her academic success or failure in the
school (Adeleke, 2005). The American
Heritage Dictionary (1985), defines disposition as a habitual inclination or a
personal tendency of an individual which makes the individual to act or behave
in a peculiar way. Individual dispositions include: temperament,
character-exhibitions, personality traits or specific natural phenomena which
differentiate a person from others in the community or the school. Dispositions
are a combination of qualities that identify a person from another. They are
what make an individual unique and differently created or carved out.
Dispositions are a prevailing frame of mind or spirit inherent in an individual
which make what he/she is. The Collins English Dictionary (1990), defines
disposition as a natural or acquired tendency, inclination or habit in a
person. Therefore, personality disposition may be defined as the sum total of
an individual’s unique ways of responding or reacting to certain issues to
occurring in his/her immediate environment which can be school, home or
society.
Undergraduates
are from different families and backgrounds. Each individual student in the
school environment has a very unique family upbringing that shapes his/her life
pattern into what he/she is seen to be in the school setting. Even students
born in the same home are unique and different from one another in many ways
such as speech, attitudes or general behavioural pattern. Many things make
human beings unique and different from others in the society. These
characteristic traits range from their the human genotypes, blood groups,
gender etc. Other physical dispositions or characteristics include such
attitudes as: likes or dislikes, tastes or preferences, hobbies, level of
intelligence, goals and aspirations, attitude to life issues and so on. These
characteristic personal differences are the products of nature and nurture
(Dickson, 2000).
Nature
refers to traits that are genetically transferred from parents to their off
springs. These are physical characteristics an of individual that are inherited
from his/her parents. Such physical characteristics arer: the colour of the
eyes, body physique, shape of nose, fingers, hair, structure of the brain, and
so on. These inherited traits or dispositions are largely responsible for many
of our behaviours, though there are some limitations (Nwankwo, 2003). Nurture
refers to the environment in which an individual is brought up. This can be the
home, the school or the societal environments in which the individual is born
and bred. It includes the physical circumstances of our birth, varying
influences from the society as a whole and more importantly, our family
structures (Osarenren, 2002).
No doubt
nature and nurture phenomena are crucial elements that helps an individual to
achieve maximum success of dismal failure in any life endeavours, be it
education/academic career, business career or any other engagement an
individual faces in life. For instance, a student with positive personality
traits or dispositions, attends to classes, copies notes, obeys the teacher,
asks critical questions in the class, remains attentive while the lectures are
going on and so on. Not only the active participation in the classroom
activities, a student with good personality dispositions studies what has been
taught and consults other education materials to internalize issues of academic
relevance to him/her. These personality traits are learning-friendly and in any
case, allow the student to record high academic success in examinations and
class tests (Uzor, 2011).
In the other
way round, healthy and unhealthy personality dispositions are a product of
negative nature and nurture. Some of the traits or personal dispositions that
are exhibited by undergraduate students at University of Lagos were inherited
from their parents and the significant others in the society. Some of these
traits resulted from the way the students were brought up by their parents and
others who nurtured them as surrogate parents. Their upbringings and social
interactions are very significant in shaping their personality dispositions or
traits. The presence of negative personality dispositions can pose a great
threat to students’ studies in a negative way. For instance, students with
negative dispositions are, restive, truants, they absent themselves from the
school without permission or any reason, they pay no attention to the lecture
and above all, they do not read their books critically for maximum achievement
in the examinations. These negative personality dispositions are not learning
friendly and therefore, can mar the academic achievement of the students in
question thereby making them to record dismal failures in the school (Anyanwu,
1999).
If a student
does not read his books, does not attend the class regularly, does not listen
attentively to the lectures, shows or displays negative traits of fighting
others in the classroom, creating unfriendly atmosphere such that other
students avoids moving or associating with him/her and exhibits other negative
and anti-social dispositions, these anti-academic achievement traits will
automatically lead the student poor socialization among his/her peers, and consequently,
result into a resounding poor academic performance and miserable life pattern
of the individual student. Hence, the need to identify the personality
variables of students as factors that can influence their academic achievement.
1.2Theoretical
Framework
The Theories
of Learning (S-R Theories) (Skinner, 1991)
The (S-R)
theory of learning propounded by B.S. Skinner (1991), underpins this study
because, it is the theory that concerns learning which is the dependent
variable in the study. The most crucial features of the connectionist or S-R
theories of learning and more specifically, behavior, are contained in the two
important letters ‘S’ and ‘R’ and the hyphen in between them. ‘S’ means
stimulus or thinking bond. According to this school of thought, which includes
great behaviourists like Watson (1946), Thorndike (1949), Hull (1943), Pavlov
(1958) and Skinner (1991), behavior is a transaction between the stimulus or
stimuli that impinge on an organism and the resultant responses, the ‘R’. This
connotes that learning involvYUGes some lasting or permanent changes in the
relationships between the ‘S’ and ‘R’ connection. The behaviourists emphasized
that all knowledge emanate from the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch
and taste. For the behaviourists, man is born with the ability and capacity to
acquire knowledge and everything he knows comes from his sensory experience.
Sensory qualities are connected in the mind, because they occur closely
together in time or space as one interacts with his environment. Learning
therefore, occurs trough close association of events or ideas. For the
behaviourists, learning occurs only through experience. Skinner (1991), did not
reckon with the existence of the innate ideas in man as being responsible for his
knowledge. To him, learning is mechanistic; that is to assume that the mind is
machine-like and of simple elements with no mysterious elements and therefore,
the product of life experience. Thus, behavior is not learnt but inborn in man.
For instance, the baby-sucking behavior as well as the sexual behaviour in man,
are not learnt, but inborn behaviours. Although, some behaviours could be
explained in terms of maturation. They include walking, speech, flying of birds
in the sky as well as swimsging of tadpoles in the sea.
1.3
Statement of the Problem
The nature
and nurture phenomena which are embedded in the personality of an individual,
are crucial elements that can assist a student to achieve maximum success or
dismal failure in any life endeavours, which include education/academic career, business career or
any other engagement which an individual faces. Unhealthy personality
dispositions therefore, are a product of negative nature and nurture. Some of
the negative traits or personality dispositions that are exhibited by students
are negative character-dispositions inherited from their parents and the
significant others in the society. Some of these negative traits are as a
result of the ways students were brought up by poor parental styles and the significant
others who nurtured them as surrogate parents.
The presence
of negative personality dispositions can pose a great threat to students’
studies and their social interactions in a negative way. For instance, students
with negative dispositions are, restive, truants, they absent themselves from
the school without permission or for any reason, they pay no attention to the
lecture and above all, they do not read their books critically for maximum
achievement in the examinations for academic progress. These negative
personality dispositions are not learning friendly and therefore, can mar
seriously the academic achievement of the students in question thereby making
them to record dismal failures in their school activities which include
academic achievements (Anyanwu, 1999).
For
instance, if a student does not read his books, does not attend the class
regularly, does not listen attentively to the lectures, shows or displays
negative traits of fighting others in the classroom, creating unfriendly
atmosphere such that other students avoids moving or associating with him/her,
and exhibits other negative and anti-social dispositions in the classroom and
the school. These anti-academic achievement traits will automatically lead the
student to poor socialization among his/her peers, and consequently, result
into a resounding poor academic performance and miserable life pattern of the
student.
The above
identified problems, subsequently gave rise to the examination of personality
dispositions and undergraduate students’ academic achievement at the University
of Lagos.
1.4 Purpose of the Study
The main
purpose of the study is to examine the relationship that exists between
personality dispositions and academic achievement of undergraduate students in
University of Lagos. The specific objectives of the study are to:
1. Ascertain the relationship between
personality dispositions and undergraduate students’ academic achievement at
University of Lagos.
2. Assess the relationship between truancy
and students’ academic achievement at University of Lagos.
3. Examine the relationship between positive
peer-grouping and undergraduate students’ academic achievement at University of
Lagos.
4. Investigate the relationship between
negative behaviours and students’ academic performance at University of Lagos.
5. Identify the perceived factors militating
against low academic achievement of students at University of Lagos.
1.5Research
Questions
The
following research questions were raised in this study for effective conduct:
1. What is the relationship between
personality dispositions and undergraduate students’ academic achievement at
University of Lagos?
1What is the
relationship between truancy and students’ academic achievement at University
of Lagos?
2Is there
any relationship between positive peer-grouping and undergraduate students’
academic achievement at University of Lagos?
3Is there
any relationship between negative behaviours and students’ academic performance
at University of Lagos?
4How can the
perceived factors militating against low academic achievement of students at
University of Lagos be identified?
1.6 Research Hypotheses
The
following null hypotheses were formulated and tested in this study:
There is no
significant relationship between personality dispositions and undergraduate
students’ academic achievement.
There is no
significant relationship between truancy and students’ academic achievement.
There is no
significant relationship between positive peer-grouping and undergraduate
students’ academic achievement.
There is no
significant relationship between negative behaviours and students’ academic
performance.
1.7
Significance of the Study
This study
will be of great benefit to the followings; students, teachers, school
authorities, parents, university authority, educational policy makers, school
counsellors, religious leaders, the government and the society at large.
(1) The findings and recommendations
of this study will be of great benefit to the students who would be enlightened
concerning the character they should put across in the society. This study will
also afford the students, the opportunity to know the influence of personality
dispositions on academic achievement of undergraduate students at University of
Lagos. This study will also lead them to avoid those behaviours labelled as
anti-personality dispositions among students in the school and the society.
With the recommendations of the study, students would be able to identify the
attributes of personality dispositions and their effects on their academic
performances in school.
(2) Would be beneficiaries of this
study, because, the study will afford them the golden opportunity of knowing
how to detect students who exhibit negative dispositions and how to tackle them
or remedy them. With the findings and recommendations of this study, teachers
would be able to know those activities that would enable them to remedy the bad
behaviours of the students who are under their care and how to help them
achieve high academic performances in the school.
(3) With the recommendations of this
study, the school authorities would be able to solve the problem of bad
dispositions of students or adolescents in our tertiary institutions. This
study also, will recommend to the school authorities all it takes to arrest the
dwindling or negative behaviours of students in our schools and the society at
large and how these negative behaviours affect the academic performance of
undergraduate students.
(4) Government would be opportuned
to gather relevant information concerning adolescents’ negative life styles in
the society. It will be of great help to the government, if this study is
completed and the recommendations upheld. This is because, it will afford the
government the opportunity to know how to go about solving the society’s
problems which is mostly on youths’ personality dispositions.
(5) Parents would also benefit from this study
because, it will enable them to be able to know the characters of their
students and wards and how to go about solving the perceived problems bothering
on negative dispositions and the attendant poor academic performance of
students. No doubt, the negative personal dispositions of the youths have been
the major problems of the parents, the school and the society. The government
is interested in solving the social and academic problems of youth in the
society. Therefore, government will collaborate with parents and teachers to
solve this problem of negative dispositions amongst the youths in our higher
schools and homes.
(6) The general members of the
larger society will be able to benefit from this study, because it will help
them to know or identify the problems of negative dispositions amongst the
youths and how to help in solving them.
1.8 Scope of the Study
This study
examined the relation between personal dispositions and undergraduate students’
academic achievement at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria. The study will
cover eight Faculties within the institution. This was done by random selection
of undergraduate students from each Faculty as participants to respond to the
questionnaires.
1.9 Operational Definition of Terms
Operational
terms were defined according to the way they were used in the study thus:
Personality:
Personality is the total pattern of characteristic ways of thinking, feeling
and behaving that constitutes the individual’s distinctive method of relating
to the environment
Dispositions:
Dispositions may be defined as the sum total of an individual’s unique ways of
responding to his environment which can be natural or acquired.
Personality
traits: Personality traits are definite characteristics that typify an
individual and make such person different from every other person.
Nature:
Nature refers to traits that are genetically transferred from parents to their
offspring. These are physical characteristics an individual inherit from his
parents.
Nurture:
Nurture refers to the environment in which an individual is brought up. It
includes the physical circumstances of our birth, varying influences from the
society as a whole and more importantly our families
Academic
achievement: Academic achievementrefers to an individual’s performance in an
academic activity. It is the result of the assessment of an individual’s
ability in accomplishing a task related to his studies.
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