In order to continue their contribution to the profession of psychology in South Africa the selection committees of psychology departments of higher education institutions are faced with the difficult task of selecting the most suitable candidates to fill their Clinical, Counselling, Educational and Industrial Psychology masters coursework programmes. Selection committees have traditionally made use of several admission criteria and procedures ranging from academic performance to personality assessment to a combination of methods. Admission criteria vary greatly across Higher Education Institutions. The selection committee at the selected participating institution of higher education takes into account the prospective students' academic performance, relevant work or practical experience, research experience, active participation in the classroom, active involvement outside of the classroom (participation in and engagement with community activities), and personality. Currently the institution of higher education that provided the sample for the current study employs the NEO PI-R as well as the MMPI-2 to assess masters applicants’ personality traits. A study by Britz (1994) recommended that the MBTI® be included in the assessment battery for psychology masters students. The primary aim of the proposed study is to identify, explore and describe the personality preferences of a group of prospective psychology masters applicants and a group of successfully selected psychology masters students at a South African Higher Education Institution utilising the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®). The study was exploratory descriptive in nature and was based on the quantitative research approach. Non-probability convenience sampling and the survey method was utilised to identify and approach prospective participants. Participants were requested to complete the MBTI® questionnaire. The MBTI® protocols were hand-scored and the findings analysed utilising frequency distributions and inferential statistics, that is, means and standard deviations. The MBTI® was found to be valid and reliable in a variety of populations and contexts. xi Results indicated that the ISTJ (15 percent), INTP (15 percent) and ESFJ (15 percent) personality types were the three most common personality types amongst participants from the group of prospective psychology masters applicants. The ENFP (13 percent), INTP (13 percent) and ISFJ (13 percent) personality types were the three most common personality types amongst participants from the group of successfully selected masters students. The majority (14 percent) of participants from the total sample displayed a preference for the INTP personality type. An examination of the dichotomous personality types of the participants revealed that the majority of participants preferred the Extraversion attitude, Sensing and Thinking functions, and Judgement attitude.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:9898 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Smit, René |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Health Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | xi, 155 leaves ; 30 cm, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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