Typologies of Western Program Students and Architecture Students

Typologies of Western Program Students and Architecture Students

In order to give a better understanding to exactly what our student generated lab is geared towards finding, we have felt it necessary to give a background on the Western College Program teaching philosophy. Also, we are interested in the reasoning behind placing the architecture students in this unique environment. This information will help prove connections between learning styles and typologies of both Western students and Architecture students.
In 1994, a graduate student from Indiana University named Pete Magolda wrote his dissertation based on the Western College Program as an ethnographic study of a residential college. He found consistencies among the types of people that the Western College Program. For many ìmain campusî students, Western is seen as a place for those that are ìdifferentî and do not have any direction with their education. Western enables a student to see things from several perspectives because of the nature of the classes. Students also take a certain amount of initiative in the direction of education; class structure is open and assignments are left open-ended. These conditions appealed to the administrators in the fine arts department. In 1982, he Dean of Fine Arts endorsed the idea of architecture students taking WCP courses to fulfill their University general education requirements. ìHe stated, ëThe impetus for this proposal is our belief that the Interdisciplinary nature of these core courses is highly desirable for designers because of the inherent emphasis on the correlation of the ideas and principles throughout the various disciplines. Research in creativity and our own experiences in teaching convince us that this ability to see relationships and associations between the various phenomena is critical in the creative processîí(pg. 94).
It is helpful to inspect more closely exactly what the Western teaching style and philosophy are. Magolda points out four aspects of WCPís curriculum that are not visible at first glance: ìknowing thy neighbor, encouraging students to take responsibility for their education, teaching about the marginalized, and encouraging activismî (78). These hidden educational factors may be the reason that a certain typology or personality trait might be attracted to Western.
ìKnowing Thy Neighborî is part of the ideology of the concept of a ìco-curriculumî. By living in the same residences together, eating meals together, going to class together, and living with faculty members, students have the opportunity to discuss class content at all times. Western classes include substantial amounts of group work, so students learn to make decisions with other students. ìStudent-faculty interactions extended beyond social interactions to include governance, which also played an important part in the co-curriculum... Students participated as voting members of the schoolís Executive Committee, critiqued new course offerings each semester, served on faculty search and tenure and promotion committees, and collaborated on long range planning.î (77)
Encouraging students to take responsibility for their education is the second ìhiddenî aspect of the Western education. This was apparent from the very beginning, in the 1970's Western College officially adapted ìfreedom with responsibilityî as the ideology. This included focusing the educational venture on the student, the idea that dealing with a studentís identity was of high importance in education, the idea that an academic program should be flexible, and that students should be responsible for their own education. Students develop their own statement of educational objectives which reflect a studentís values, career goals, and aspirations. Another facet of students taking responsibility is the blurring of the roles between the student and the teacher. For instance, students call faculty by their first names, instructors gather student opinions rather than telling students the ìcorrectî interpretation. Upper class students serve as peer tutors. Seniors present their research papers as teachers.
The third aspect of interdisciplinary education embraced by the Western College program is teaching about the marginalized. Classes reflect this, often students study the marginalized in society. Western students are often viewed by main campus students as unorthodox, this is part of an image that may attract certain personality traits. In a survey conducted by Cooperative Institutional Research Program, ìFifty percent of WCP students reported participating in a demonstration (protest), compared with 33% of the main campus survey respondents... 49% of WCP students reported having ìfar-leftî or ìliberalî political views, compared with 25% of main campus students.î (p. 85)
ìA natural outcome of studying the marginalized and feeling marginalized is the need to act.î (p.86) Magolda argues that the reason that WCP encourages activism is not just the nature of learning about the marginalized in class, but that the institution is committed to activism. Activism is woven into the culture of both institutions.
Adding to this belief, at an Architecture Forum that took place on December 8, 1999, architecture and interior design students discussed how spending their first year in the Western College Program helped and hindered them. Students felt that the effects of taking WCP classes and living on Western were most visible in retrospect. Students reported feeling disenchanted with classes at first, but found that because teachers were very approachable and because their feedback was taken into account when changes were being considered for classes, Western classes seemed to work. Also mentioned was the interdisciplinary nature of the classes as compared to the interdisciplinary nature of design, the advantages of living in Western dorms and creating self-tailored rules for living. Students also liked the balance between extremely focused individuals looking for a vocation for a trade and students that feel education is all about exploring, learning about the self, taking oneís own path. Even when prompted for more negatives, students felt that the only negative aspect was the arrogance that architecture students have about the amounts of work done.

I. Abstract:
Typology is the study of personality traits of any one person or a group of people. It is our intent to gain insight into the personality traits of Western College students and Architecture/Interior design students. It is possible to see a difference between Architecture students and Western students, but is there an internal difference? We think there is. Perhaps it is the thought process that differs, or the different forms of expression, or even a difference in the learning styles. Our main question is whether there is a convincing difference between the students mentioned above or not. We will enable the use of the Keirsey Temperament Sorter which will reveal the emotional, inter-personal, and social traits of the tested subject. Also, we will ask five general questions of the students feelings about Western classes in order to see if both the Western students and Architecture students are indeed suited for Interdisciplinary Studies. It is our intent to distribute the questions to twenty-five Western College majors and twenty-five Architecture majors with the hope that a noticeable difference between the two groups studied will appear.

II. Hypothesis:

Through the basis of our results, we will prove that the majority of Architects will be introverts, intuitive, thinkers, and perceptive (INTP). We propose that Western students will more likely to have the characteristics of an extrovert, sensor, and perceptive typology(ESXP). Overall, as a group, we expect to find a wider variety of typologies among Western students as opposed to the Architecture students. Based on the typologies of the tested students, we believe that Western students are in fact suited for the Western teaching style while a small percentage of architects will fit the Western teaching style.

III. Introduction:

Our purpose of testing the typology of students is to scientifically prove the personality difference between the two groups. Research suggests that different typologies denote strengths and weaknesses in many areas from learning styles, to professions, decisions making techniques, even emotional states of being ( Keirsey 69). There are eight categories to which typologies are divided into. The first two are Introvert and Extrovert personalities. The typical extrovert is an all out people person. Extroverts are friendly, approachable,and talkative when interacting with others . They look for conformation from these people. They tend to be more relaxed and confident in social situations. On the other hand introverts can be the complete opposite. They are more tentative in approaching new people. And when interacting with others they rehearse what they might say ìIíll have to think about thatî(Hirsh & Kummerow 13-14). Furthermore many introverts would much rather listen to someone talk that be the speaker. They are peaceful, quiet, intense, and passionate.
The second letters of a typology are S and N, Sensor and iNtuitive respectively. These letters deal with what people pay attention to, what kind of information they gather, and what they do with it. A sensor receives information directly through their five senses. They crave enjoyment, are aware of their surroundings, and observant at the expense of their imagination. They seek possession and enjoyment. The intuitive relates to paying attention to the world through the ìsixth sense,î ìgut feeling,î or ìhunch.î They are inspiration seekers, initiators, inventors, and promoters. Intuitives look for possibilities in a situation while seeking an underlying meanings. They are oriented in the future and focus on making changes (23).
The third category of a typology are Thinking or Feeling; these preferences deal with how a person reaches decisions on a matter. The thinker makes decisions in a logical and objective way. They are logical, truthful, inquisitive, and fact driven. Thinkers ignore feeling, remain cool headed, and formulate decisions quickly. On the other hand, Feeling types decide more with their heart (39-50). They are sentimental, tactful, gullible, and emotional. Feelers take things personally and enjoy helping others.
The final category consists of personality preferences between Judgment and Perception. Judgment preferences are characterized by a need for order; along with a need to be right. They are rational, exact, decisive, and purposeful. These people have a clear understanding of what needs to be done, how it is to be done, and how they are going to get there. While the perceptive preferences are characterized by an adaptive attitude; learning from experiences. A perceptive person is empirical, curious, flexible, and tolerant. Unlike those with judgment preferences whose work is their life, people with perceptive preferences regard work as an infringement on relationships in life(53-65).

IV. Methods:

In order to gain the information that is needed and sort peopleís typologies, the following test, the Kersey Temperament Sorter, is given to each subject. The answers are then categorized and labeled accordingly as either an Extrovert/Introvert, Sensor/Intuitive, Thinking/Feeling, and Judgment/Perception. This test/sorter will be given to twenty-five Western College majors and twenty-five Architecture/Interior Design majors. The subject will answer the questions and then give us the results so that they can be sorted and scored properly. These scores will help us prove, or disprove the hypothesis and give further insight into the personalities of the Western major and Architect major.

IN CLASS LAB PACKET QUESTIONER:
Keirsey Temperament Sorter
1. At a party do you
(a) interact with many, including strangers
(b) interact with a few, known to you
2. Are you more
(a) realistic (b) philosophically inclined
3. Are you more intrigued by
(a) facts (b) similes
4. Are you usually more
(a) fair minded (b) kind hearted
5. Do you tend to be more
(a) dispassionate (b) sympathetic
6. Do you prefer to work
(a) to deadlines (b) just ìwheneverî
7. Do you tend to choose
(a) rather carefully (b) rather impulsively
8. At parties do you
(a) stay late, with increasing energy
(b) leave early, with decreased energy
9. Are you a more
(a) sensible person (b) reflective person
10. Are you more drawn to
(a) hard data (b) abstruse ideas
11. Is it more natural for you to be
(a) fair to others (b) nice to others
12. In first approaching others are you more
(a) impersonal and detached (b) personal and engaging
13. Are you usually more
(a) punctual (b) leisurely
14. Does it bother you more having things
(a) incomplete (b) completed
15. In your social groups do you
(a) keep abreast of othersí happenings (b) get behind on news
16. Are you usually more interested in
(a) specifics (b) concepts
17. Do you prefer writers who
(a) say what they mean (b) use lots of analogies
18. Are you more naturally
(a) impartial (b) compassionate
19. In judging are you more likely to be
(a) impersonal (b) sentimental
20. Do you usually
(a) settle things (b) keep options open
21. Are you usually rather
(a) quick to agree to a time (b) reluctant to agree to a time
22. In phoning do you
(a) just start talking (b) rehearse what youíll say
23. Facts
(a) speak for themselves (b) usually require interpretation
24. Do you prefer to work with
(a) practical information (b) abstract ideas
25. Are you inclined to be more
(a) cool headed (b) warm hearted
26. Would you rather be
(a) more just than merciful (b) more merciful than just
27. Are you more comfortable with
(a) setting a schedule (b) putting things off
28. Are you more comfortable with
(a) written agreements (b) handshake agreements
29. In company do you
(a) start conversations (b) wait to be approached
30. Traditional common sense is
(a) usually trustworthy (b) often misleading
31. Children often do not
(a) make themselves useful enough (b) daydream enough
32. Are you usually more
(a) tough minded (b) tender hearted
33. Are you more
(a) firm than gentle (b) gentle than firm
34. Are you more prone to keep things
(a) well organized (b) open-ended
35. Do you put more value on the
(a) definite (b) variable
36. Does new interaction with others
(a) stimulate and energize you (b) tax your reserves
37. Are you more frequently
(a) a practical sort of person (b) an abstract sort of person
38. Which are you drawn to
(a) accurate perception (b) concept formation
39. Which is more satisfying
(a) to discuss an issue thoroughly
(b) to arrive at agreement on an issue
40. Which rules you more
(a) your head (b) your heart
41. Are you more comfortable with work
(a) contracted (b) done on a casual basis
42. Do you prefer things to be
(a) neat and orderly (b) optional
43. Do you prefer
(a) many friends with brief contact
(b) a few friends with longer contact
44. Are you more drawn to
(a) substantial information (b) credible assumption
45. Are you more interested in
(a) production (b) research
46. Are you more comfortable when you are
(a) objective (b) personal
47. Do you value in yourself that you are
(a) unwavering (b) devoted
48. Are you more comfortable with
(a) final statements (b) tentative statements
49. Are you more comfortable
(a) after a decision (b) before a decision
50. Do you
(a) speak easily and at length with strangers
(b) find little to say to strangers
51. Are you usually more interested in the
(a) particular instance (b) general case
52. Do you feel
(a) more practical than ingenious (b) more ingenious than practical
53. Are you typically more a person of
(a) clear reason (b) strong feeling
54. Are you inclined more to be
(a) fair-minded (b) sympathetic
55. Is it preferable mostly to
(a) make sure things are arranged (b) just let things happen
56. Is it your way more to
(a) get things settled (b) put off settlement
57. When the phone rings do you
(a) hasten to get to it first (b) hope someone else will answer
58. Do you prize more in yourself a
(a) good sense of reality (b) good imagination
59. Are you drawn more to
(a) fundamentals (b) overtones
60. In judging are you usually more
(a) neutral (b) charitable
61. Do you consider yourself more
(a) clear headed (b) good willed
62. Are you more prone to
(a) schedule events (b) take things as they come
63. Are you a person that is more
(a) routinized (b) whimsical
64. Are you more inclined to be
(a) easy to approach (b) somewhat reserved
65. Do you have more fun with
(a) hands-on experience (b) blue-sky fantasy
66. In writings do you prefer
(a) the more literal (b) the more figurative
67. Are you usually more
(a) unbiased (b) compassionate
68. Are you typically more
(a) just than lenient (b) lenient than just
69. Is it more like you to
(a) make snap judgments (b) delay making judgments
70. Do you tend to be more
(a) deliberate than spontaneous
(b) spontaneous than deliberate

How Is Western Suiting Your Educational Needs?
1. Do Western classes interest you?

2. Do you enjoy how the classes are taught?

3. Have the classes expanded your basic knowledge on the topic?

4. Do you feel that Western classes have challenged the way you view the world?

V. Results/Analysis:

*
In looking at the summary tables of Introvert and Extravert personalities of the Western students vs. the Architecture students, we can see that there is little difference among the two groups. The .277 P-value shows that there is a 27% probability that the differences a result of chance. There is little variation among the observed frequencies and the expected value. At most there is a difference of 2. In conclusion, the Introverts and Extraverts of the Western and Architecture students populations are similar.

*
Viewing the summary table of the survey data taken for the Sensor and Intuitive typologies of Western and Architecture students, we see a greater difference among the two groups. The very low P-value of .0161 means that there is a very low probability that the difference in the numbers is due to chance. The expected values compared to the observed frequencies shows a greater difference in the numbers expected by change. In conclusion there are more intuitive typologies among the Western program students and more sensor typologies among the Architecture students.

*
The summary table of the data comparing the Thinker and the Feeler typologies of the Western and Architecture students shows there is little difference in the numbers among the two groups. The P-value calculated is .4544 meaning that there is a 45% probability that the difference is result of chance. When comparing the observed frequencies and the expected values the variance of the numbers are less that two. From these sets of numbers we can conclude that the thinking and feeling typologies among the Western program students and Architecture students are similar in numbers.

*
Viewing the summary table data for the results of the Judgmental and Perceptive typologies of Western and Architecture students. There is little difference among these two groups typologies. With a p-value of .3429 this means there is a 34% probability that the difference between the sets of the numbers is due to chance alone. The expected values compared to the observed frequencies shows little variance in the respective numbers. In conclusion this table shows that the populations of Judgmental and Perspective typologies of the Western and Architecture students are similar in numbers.

*
The summary table for the middle letters of the typology test shows significant differences between the combinations of letters. The p-value for the four sets of data is .0460 which means there is a 4% probability that the differences in data are found between the Sensor/Feeling typologies and the Intuitive/Feeling typologies. Looking at the observed frequencies and expected values, the NF and SF showed great differences in numbers while the data for the NT and ST were found to be very similar. From these sets of numbers we can conclude that the combination of SF and NF typologies show the greatest differences of all the data taken.

*
Narrowing down the data to look closer at the SF/NF middle letters shows an even greater difference in the numbers. The p-value calculated for the SF/NF data shows a value of .0061. This shows a percentage of .6% probability that the difference between these two sets of numbers is result of chance alone. The observed frequencies compared to the expected values of the data shows a great variation among the numbers. In conclusion these numbers show the even greater typology (SF/NF) differences among the Western Program and Architecture students.

*
Looking at the summary table of the data for question one, ìDo Western classes interest you?î The Western program and architect students answered this question. Looking at the p-value, which is .0006, shows that the wide variation in the groupís answers has a .06% probability that they are due to chance. Comparing the observed frequencies and the expected values for the yes and no answers, there is a significant difference i n the sets of numbers. In conclusion the Western program classes interest more Western students by a significant number.

*
The summary of the answers to the second question of ìDo you enjoy how the classes are taught?î looking at the p-value, which is .2829 shows that there is a 28% probability that the results are due to chance. The observed frequencies and the expected values data shows that there is little variance - at the most two. In conclusion, for the most part Western and Architecture students enjoy how that classes are taught.

*
Viewing the summary table data for the third question given to the western and Architecture students stated ìHave the classes expanded your basic knowledge on the topics?î shows a p-value of .1815. This says that there is a 18% probability that the differences are result of chance. Even though when looking at the observed frequencies, 15 Western students answered yes and 13 Architecture students also answered yes. The similar results in answers should give a higher p-value, but since the ìsomewhatî answers were 12 and 4. This is why the p-value is lower than expected. Comparing the observed frequencies and the expected values shows the differences of two or three in all three categories, Concluding that Western program and Architecture students feel that the classes have expanded their basic knowledge on the topics.

*
The results from the fourth question, ìDo you feel that Western classes have challenged the way you view the world?î shows greater differences between the yes and no categories than the somewhat category. The p-vlaue for the results of this question is .0562, meaning that there is a 5% probability that the differences are result of chance. Looking at the results of the observed frequencies and the expected values shows that there differences of three or four. In conclusion there are more Architects that felt that their views of the world had not changed while more Westerns felt that their views had changed. The somewhat answers where equal among the two groups of students.

VII. Discussion/Conclusion:
After reviewing the data from all our results we came up with interesting conclusions that both proved and disproved our hypothesis. Originally, we believed that the majority of Architects will be introverts, intuitive, thinkers, and perceptive (INTP). We thought that Western students would be more likely to have the characteristics of an extrovert, sensor, and perceptive typology(ESXP). We also believed that there would be a more diverse set of typologies among the Western students. Also, we anticipated that Western students were suited for the Western teaching style while a small percentage of architects would fit the Western style.
Let us first look at the Extravert/Introvert category. We rejected our hypothesis in that both majors had similar amounts of extraverts and introverts. There were more Extraverts in Architecture than expected. One of the reasons behind our summation that there would be a majority of Introverts in Architecture is because Introverts are passionate and this seemed like a fitting description for Architects. That is they are passionate about art and design.
Next we can see that there is a significant difference between Western students and Architecture students when looking at Sensor/Intuitive typologies. Our greatest error in hypothesis comes in our belief that Architects would be Intuitive and Western would be Sensor. In fact, a great majority of Architects were categorized as sensor typologies while there counterparts were more evenly distributed in the two personality types. What makes this particularly interesting is that this information makes a reasonable amount of sense when looking at what characteristics a sensor person. Sensors are fact driven by what is real and practical. They use their five senses. When we consider what an Architect does as a profession they need rely on reality and hard facts to make structure stand. When analyzing the Western results, there was little distinction whether or not they were one or the other. However, there were more Intuitive in Western than in Architecture. The reason for this is we believe that the Intuitive personality is a more abstract thinker who relies on a ìsixth sense.î This type of persona better fits the Western mentality, which urges students to think more critically and philosophically in abstract manner.
Surveys concluded that the majority of all students in both the Western program and architecture are feelers. To recap, a thinker makes judgments according to logic and objective thinking, and a feeler makes decisions in a subjective manner based on a personal system of values. We hypothesized that Architects would generally be thinkers and that Western majors would generally be either thinkers or feelers. One reason that more architects are feelers is that Miami is a four year school, which includes a liberal arts education with a vocational education, and generally includes more artistic instruction. Many architecture schools are five year schools, which are generally purely vocational. Liberal arts might attract more feelers. Feelers may be attracted to the Western College program because Western classes tend to ask students to come to their own conclusions rather than give students a straight forward lesson plan and definite answers. Also, for Western students, people are socialized in such a way that more females are feelers and more males are thinkers, and there are more female Western students than male. Sixteen out of 20 Western students were feelers. Nineteen out of 27 architecture students were feelers.
Surveys showed that the majority of all students in both the Western program and Architecture are judgmental. People who are judgmental generally prefer a planned and organized life. Perceptive people like living a spontaneous, open ended life. Our group hypothesized that architects as well as Western students would tend to be perceptive. Most students may be judgmental because judgmental students may find the deadlines of school easier to meet, but it is difficult to find a solid reason why most students are judgmental. Fourteen out of 19 Western majors were judgmental and 15 out of 25 architecture majors were judgmental.
Next we looked at the four combinations of the middle letters, N/F, S/F, N/T and S/T because they tell most about a person. The middle letters tell how a person takes in information and what they then do with it. For instance the N/F combination of letters is a person that takes in information intuitively, meaning that they look for what can lead to possibilities. What this person does with the information deals more with their heart than with their head. They tend to talk their decisions over with people. Looking at

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