Grow Your Potential

With The Personality Tree

Introduction

• Grow Your Potential is a study of how personality type affects a students grades and extra curricular activities.

• The personality survey used is based off the book The Personality Tree.

• The four personality types studied were first recognized by Hippocrates in 400 BC.

The Personalities

• For the study purposes there are 4 personality types: – The Popular Sanguine– The Powerful Choleric– The Perfect Melancholy– The Peaceful Phlegmatic

The Popular Sanguine

• Labeled “The Talker,” the sanguine lives to have fun!

• Sanguines love color, acting, and telling stories, so these are good ways to help remember things.

• Studying out loud helps to process information, but record for later playback.

• Always keep a calendar; living in the moment can make one forgetful.

The Powerful Choleric

• “The Worker” is very goal oriented and tends to jump straight to the bottom line.

• Take notes to become an active learner. Later, create a game to learn details.

• Studying with friends can help you to see the big picture.

• The innate drive to complete something makes one restless, so study while walking to increase focus.

The Perfect Melancholy

• “The Thinker” spends more time analyzing than actually getting things done.

• The deep need for perfection can inhibit one’s drive, so prioritize, make a calendar, and stick to it.

• Learns well by rote memory, so flash cards are a good study technique.

• Pictures and graphs help in understanding a concept at a higher level.

• Use creativity to drive meaning home: a poem, song, dance, etc.

The Peaceful Phlegmatic

• “The Watcher,” who always sees the best in others, needs a practical application to what they are learning in order to focus.

• A big picture person, looking for connections can help you to retain details.

• A vivid imagination can be a distraction, but taking notes and free writing helps you to solidify what you learn.

• Always looking for the easy way out, discipline for deadlines, and even expressing opinions is a must.

The Study

• We completed a descriptive and correlational study.

• 45 High School Students were surveyed using the personality profile and were asked three survey questions.– What extra-curricular activities do you

participate in? – What is your favorite subject? – Do you think personality affects grades?

The Survey

• Results of personality test was compared with the student’s grades.– Numbers were assigned to tests and grades, to

ensure student confidentiality. – Charts were created to compare grades and activities

by personality.– Personality types were also analyzed by gender.

• While cause and effect cannot be determined, we will hypothesize about some of the results based on personality descriptions.

Academic Results

• Sanguine– Mostly “B” & “C” students.– Excelled in Languages, especially foreign

languages, perhaps due to their love of talking and acting.

• Choleric– Primarily “B” students. While goal oriented,

they can have challenges multi-tasking.

Academic Results

• Melancholy– Students seemed to excel or be middle of the

road. Some perfectionists have difficulty completing assignments, because they can’t reach their perfectionist goals.

– Did well in science, English, and foreign languages.

• Phlegmatic– Mostly “A” students. Despite lazy tendencies,

they would rather do the work than have conflict over it.

Extra-Curricular Activities

• Results are based on surveying students current activities.

• They were divided into 4 categories:– Performing Arts:

• Band, theatre

– Individual Sports• Tennis, swimming, track

– Team Sports• Basketball, football, softball

– Leadership Activities• Honor Society, Student Council

Activity Results

• Sanguine– Over 75% participated in team sports, while

less than 5% played individual sports probably due to their social nature.

– Also, high in performing arts.

• Choleric– Considered leaders, cholerics surveyed

surprisingly did not participate in any leadership activities.

– Most participation was evenly split between performing arts and team sports.

Activity Results

• Melancholy– Highest in performing arts followed by team

sports. – Individual sports and leadership also relatively

high at over 25% each.

• Phlegmatic– Sports were the highest with individual and

team about equal. – Also had about 30% participation in

performing arts and leadership.

Student Opinion

• Does Personality Matter? – 100% of Phlegmatics said YES! – Under 25% of controlling Cholerics said YES.

• Favorite Subjects– Sanguine

• Math– Choleric

• Band– Melancholy

• English– Phlegmatic

• History

Gender

• Females had almost twice as many talkative Sanguines as males.

• Males had more than 7 times as many powerful Cholerics than females, and nearly 4 times as many Phlegmatics.

• Percentage of Melancholy personalities were similar for both male and female.

Conclusion

• While trends were weak compared to larger studies, there were definite differences in each personality style.

• Teaching students how to use their strengths to compensate for their weaknesses can help students to improve in school.

• These techniques can also be used for students with exceptionalities.