Approaches to learning, personality and academic performance
Åge Diseth,
University of Bergen, Norway
Abstract: Several individual characteristics may influence learning and performance in an
academic setting. This paper reports on the relation between approaches to studying
(ASSIST), personality (NEO PI-R) and academic performance (examination grade) in two
different samples - undergraduate psychology students and ex.phil. students (an
introductory course in philosophy and logic) - a total of 310 students. The relationship
between these variables is interesting for several reasons: Approaches to learning as
measured by the ASSIST have never been compared to a well established personality
inventory, such as the NEO PI-R. But the NEO PI-R have been found to correspond with other
inventories measuring motivation, which is a central aspect of the ASSIST. Furthermore, a
comparison between these inventories may tell us something about the relationship between
approaches to learning and personality, and whether the ASSIST may account for individual
variance beyond the NEO PI-R. Finally, both the ASSIST and the NEO PI-R have been found to
predict academic performance in different studies. But the ASSIST appears to be somewhat
more relevant for an academic context, and should therefor predict academic achievement
better than the NEO PI-R. In this study, a structural equation modelling, where both NEO,
ASSIST and achievement are included, shows that approaches to learning appears to have a
foundation in more or less stable personality factors. Furthermore, personality has an
indirect effect on achievement via approaches to learning in this model. Substantial
individual variance in approach remains unexplained by personality, however. As regards
academic achievement, the results support that some variance in achievement may be
accounted for by approaches to learning, but that the relationship between approach and
achievement differs across samples.