I. MBTI AND FIRST SEMESTER GRADES

A. Extraversion (E)-Introversion (I) Preference

Extraversion (E) and introversion (I) are used to describe where a student focuses his or her attention in the learning process. Extraverts tend to focus their perception and judgment on people and objects; they are energized by what is going on in the outer world rather than the inner world of their mind. Extraverts usually prefer to communicate more by talking than by writing and to learn by experiencing. Thus, extraverts prefer to learn through acting rather than reflecting. Introverts become aroused to action by what goes on in their own mind. Introverts tend to focus their attention on concepts and ideas and are more comfortable when they are expected to spend most of their time just thinking. In fact, introverts prefer to reflect before acting.

In the Myers & McCaulley study, seventy-nine students (51.3%) were extraverts and the remaining seventy-five students (48.7%) were introverts. A larger percentage of female students (57.8%) than male students (46.7%) preferred extraversion over introversion. However, the difference was not statistically significant (p=.173). A larger percentage of students of color (52.9%) than whites (51.1%) preferred extraversion. However, the difference was not statistically significant (p=.886).

Students preferring extraversion had a lower mean first semester grade point average (2.499) than students preferring introversion (2.610). The difference was not statistically significant -- it was highly correlated (p=. 1504). Furthermore, even though there was not a significant correlation between first semester grades and dichotomous type (EI), the law students' EI continuous scores increased as their first semester grades increased and the correlation was statistically significant ( p=.020). That is, the more the student preferred introversion, the better the student performed. This result was true for all groups except males -- females (p=. 001), whites (p=.040) and students of color (p=.038).

It is no wonder that students preferring extraversion had a lower mean FSGPA than students preferring introversion. Legal education rewards the preferred learning style of introverts, although you might be misled if you sat in on a typical socratic classroom. Extraverted law students think best when talking, learn well in groups, and may have difficulty sitting in front of a book for a long period of time. Because of the legal education's reliance on socratic discussion in the classroom, extraverted law students are usually able to concentrate well and tend to leap into discussion readily. In fact, extraverted law students are likely to begin answering the questions immediately, thinking of what they want to say as they speak.

Introverted law students, on the other hand, need some time to think before they are required to answer. If introverted law students have not anticipated questions before hand, they may perform poorly during socratic dialogue. Furthermore, because introverts do not always share what they know, teachers may be slow to appreciate their talents and depth of knowledge. Typical socratic dialogue may cause some law professors to press introverted law students into participating. However, such pressure will often only increase the introverted law student's withdrawal. Law professors should respect introverted law students' need to think before talking by either giving them advanced notice of being called on, advance notice of the questions, or a brief twenty to thirty seconds to think before answering. If professors use one of these routes, introverted students will participate more effectively without increasing their withdrawal. However, professors should encourage introverted law students to participate in class and group activities that help to develop the extraverted side of their personalities.

Nevertheless, despite the socratic dialogic behavior emphasis in the classroom, most of the learning in law school occurs outside the classroom in solidarity reflection and involves a high degree of reading and verbal reasoning. Consequently, introverted law students are able to study more effectively, since introversion is correlated with reading and verbal reasoning. Further, much of law study involves thinking alone, something introverts do well. Furthermore, since introverts tend to prefer writing over talking, they often do better on written tests on concepts than oral tests on practical application. Consequently, it is not unexpected that introverted law students will have a relative advantage on most law school exams that are more concerned with the students' understanding of concepts. They will also have a relative advantage in obtaining favorable grades since few law professors factor in class participation as a component of the course grade.

On the other hand, solidarity reflection can be counterproductive for extraverted law students who prefer to think while acting (or even after acting). Extraverted law students need to be encouraged to make the process of the legal learning environment more active. They need to be encouraged to fill their learning situation with talking and discussion, activity and group work. They can use group discussions, cooperative projects and study groups to more thoroughly understand legal theories. However, they also need to be encouraged to identify experiences where they learn to study effectively alone.

Furthermore, extraverted law students will learn theories or facts better if they connect the theories or facts with their own experience. However, because extraverted law students tend to leap into reading assignments with little forethought, even in the classroom discussion, they need to be encouraged to take time to anticipate issues and problems.

Extraverted law students generally perform better on oral than on written tests. Consequently, they should be encouraged to practice writing exams and hypotheticals. Law students often rely on their ability to learn facts. Because many law school exams test a law student's understanding of concepts and analysis -- this reliance is misplaced. This may be a particular problem for extraverted law students who actually learn facts better than concepts and ideas. Consequently, extraverted law students need to be repeatedly encouraged not to rely on their understanding of facts but to undertake activities that will stress their learning of concepts and analysis.

Finally, extraverted law students should be encouraged to take clinical programs since they particularly benefit from programs where practical experience goes hand-in-hand with concepts and theories.

Summary of How the E and I Preferences affect LearningFN
Extraversion

Introversion

Cognitive Style: The extroverted law student favors a

Cognitive Style: The introverted law student favors a

cognitive style that involves:cognitive style that involves:
-Learning by talking and physically engaging the

-quit reflection,

environment.

-keeping one's thought inside until they arepolished.

-Letting attention flow outward toward objective
Talking to help thoughts to form and become clear,

-being engrossed in inner events: ideas, impressions,

and

concepts, and

-Learning through interactions, verbal and verbal and non-verbal.

-learning in private, individual ways.

Study Style: The extroverted law student favors a

Study Style: The introverted law student favors a

study style that involves:

study style that involves:

-acting first and reflecting after,

-reflecting first, acting after (if necessary).

-plunging into new material.

-loocing for new data to fit into the internal dialogue that is always going on.

-starting interactions needed to stimulate reflection and

that is always going on,

-having a strong, interesting, external-extroverted reason

someone who is trusted.

for studying beyond learning for its own sake,

-reading as the main way of studying.

-avoiding distractions that will cut into their

-listening to others talk about the topic being studied,

concentration.

and privately processing what they take in, and

-studying to prepare to teach someone.
Instruction that fits E's: Extroverted law students

Instruction that fits I's: Introverted law students

do their best work when:

do their vest work when:

-opportunities to think out loud for example, one-to

-working internally with their own thoughts: listening,

one with the teacher, classroom discussions, working

observing, lab work, reading, writing.

with another student on projects.

-processing their experiences at their own pace.

-learning activities that have an effect outside the

-presenting the results of their work in forms that let

learner, such as visible results from a project.

them keep their privacy,

-teachers who manage classroom dialogue so that

-having ample time to polish their work before needing

extroverts have ways to clarify their ideas before they

to present it.

add them to class discussion, and

to present it,

-assignments that let them see what other people are

-having time to reflect before answering the teacher's

doing and what they regard as important.

questions, and

-tieing their studies to their own personal interests;

their internal agenda.

TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLETABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH AT THIS POINT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE

B. Sensing (S)-Intuition (N) Preference

The sensing (S) and intuitive (N) preferences index reflects the way in which people prefer to acquire information. The index reflects how a person finds out about the world around them. A person relies either on sensing (S), which reports observable facts through one of the five senses, or on intuition (N), which reports meanings, relationships, and possibilities worked out in the subconscious.

Sensing types appreciate the realities of a situation -- accepting and working with what is given in the here-and-now. Sensing types tend to be realistic and practical. Sensing types are good at remembering and working with a large number of facts. Intuitive types, on the other hand, tend to look at the big picture and try to grasp the essential patterns. Intuitive types are imaginative and inspirational -- seeing new possibilities and new ways of doing things.

Seventy-four students (48.1%) preferred sensing and eighty students (51.9%) preferred intuition. A larger percentage of male law students (55.6%) than female law students (46.9%) preferred intuition over sensing. However, the difference was not statistically significant (p=.288). A larger percentage of students of color (52.9%) than whites (51.8%) preferred intuition over sensing. Similarly, the difference was not statistically significant (p=. 931).

Students preferring sensing had a lower mean FSGPA (2.532) than students preferring intuition (2.573). However, this difference was not statistically significant (p=.6010). While first semester grades increased (for every group except women) as SN continuous scores increased (as preference for intuition increased), the correlation was not statistically significant (p=.377).

Sensing law students learn best when they are given concrete examples that allow them to move to abstract theory in a step-by-step progression. Thus, sensing law students should be encouraged to work with programmed, modular, or computer-assisted activities. Law professors should provide sensing law students with knowledge that is practical. Furthermore, sensing law students will do better with clear directions that are concise, detailed, and precise. They are comfortable with, and interested in, situations where each part of the whole can be grasped. Sensing law students learn best when given a principle, or rule, followed by many examples of variations in applying it. They tend to enjoy practice and drill. Furthermore, because sensing law students are more exact in judging how long things take, they are more likely to work steadily at preparing for exams.

Sensing law students may have less of a natural aptitude for reading and writing. Consequently, because much of learning in law school relies on reading or writing, grades of sensing law students may underestimate their true grasp of a subject. In fact, sensing law students may be particularly disadvantaged because most first year law school exams are timed, written essays tests. However, sensing law students may actually be at an advantage in upper division, clinical based courses that rely on performance as a testing measure. Furthermore, they may also be at an advantage in courses that rely on objective tests.

Intuitive law students may be at an advantage because legal analysis requires a person to have insight and perception. Intuitive law students are likely to be able to leap to a conceptual understanding of material. However, while they are likely to have quick flashes of insight, they are often careless about details and facts. Nevertheless, intuitive law students tend to do well in law school because they excel at theoretical topics and abstract theories. Unlike sensing law students, intuitive law students get bored after they have seen what they consider the main point. This may make intuitive students inpatient in the classroom as sensing students struggle to understand. In fact, intuitive law students learn best when given a problem with the task of discovering the solution. While intuitive law students resist drill, they will pay attention to facts in order to verify the correct solution to a problem. However, intuitive law students often underestimate how long things will take and may finish tasks in a last-minute rush when a deadline makes them interesting or important. Furthermore, intuitive law students need to be challenged and kept interested. Because they are often so quick at insight, they often grasp the principle the teacher is presenting and daydream during the [class]. However, law faculty need to provide exercises and opportunities for intuitive law students to develop a healthy respect for facts. Because of the rapid movement of a law class and intuitive students' flashes of insight, the intuitive student will need to be challenged not to talk off-the-top-of-their-heads. Otherwise, intuitive law students are in danger of developing slipshod habits. They need to be challenged to find a basis for the inspirations and insights that come to them.

One way to help both intuitive law students and sensing law students may be to have collaborative exercises in which intuitive students are paired with sensing law students. Intuitive types might gain a healthy respect for the sensing type's solid grasp of reality, while sensing types might be pushed to use their imagination, inspirations, and insights.

Intuitive law students tend to do well on timed, written essay exams because of their intuitive perception and their facility with the written word. However, as far as performance is concerned, it seems to make little statistical difference whether students are sensing (mastering first the facts and details) or intuitive (mastering first the theories and concepts). This is probably because law school exams focus on both practical facts (preferred by sensing law students) and application (preferred by intuitive law students).

Summary of How the S and N Preferences Affect LearningFN
Sensing

Intuition

Cognitive Style: A sensing law student favors a cognitive style

Cognitive Style: An intuitive law student favors a cognitive

that involves:

style that involves:

-memory of facts.

-being caught up in inspiration.

-observing specifics.

-quickly seeing associations and meanings.

-processing data step by step,

-reading between the lines.

-starting with the concrete, then moving to abstract,

-relying on verbal fluency more than on memory of facts.

-being careful and thorough,

-relying on insight more than careful observation, and

-aiming toward soundness of understanding,

-focusing on general concepts more than details and practical

-staying connected to practical realities around them, and

matters.

-being attentive to what is, in the present moment.
Study Style: A sensing law student favors a study style that

Study Style: A intuitive law student favors a study style that

involves

involves:

-a sequential, step by step approach to new material,

-following inspirations.

-beginning with familiar, sold facts.

-jumping into new material to pursue an intriguing concept.

-moving gradually toward abstract concepts and principles, and

-finding their own way through new material, hopping from

-approaching abstract principals and concepts by distilling them out#concept to concept.
of their own personal, concrete experience.

-attending to details only after the big picture is clear,

-exploring new skills rather than honing present ones, and

-reading.

Instruction that fits S's: Sensing law students do their best

Instruction that fits N's: Intuitive law students do their best

work with:

work with:

-hands-on labs,

-learning assignments that put them on their own initiative,

-relevant films and other audiovisual presentations,

idnvidually or with a group.

-materials that can be ahndled.

-real choices in the ways they work out their assignments.

-computer assisted instruction.

-opportunities to find their own ways to solve problems,

-first-hand experience that gives practice in the skills and concepts

-opportunities to be inventive and original,

to be learned,

-opportunities for self-instruction, individually or with a group,

-teachers who provide concrete learning experiences first, in any

-a system of individual contracts between teacher and students,

-learning sequence, before using the textbook,

-beginnings that fire them with the fascination of new

-teachers who show them exactly what is expected of them,

possibilities, and

-teachers who do not move too quickly through material,

-experiences rich with complexities which may include

touching just the high spot or jumping from throught to thought,

stimulating lectures.

-assignments that do not expect them to generate possibilities not
based on solid facts, and
-skills and facts they can use in their present lives.

FNa. Adapted from Gordon Lawrence. People Types and Tiger Stripes 44 (1992).

C. Thinking (T)-Feeling (F) Preference

The thinking (T) and feeling (F) preference index reflects the means that individuals use to reach conclusions, make decisions, form opinions, and arrive at judgments. Persons who prefer thinking decide impersonally on the basis of logical consequences. Individuals who prefer feeling rely on judgments that are based on personal and social values.

Persons who rely on thinking make decisions objectively -- making decisions on the basis of cause and effect. Individuals that prefer thinking make decisions by analyzing and weighing the evidence. They seek an objective standard of truth and are frequently good at analyzing what went wrong or why something does not work.

Persons who prefer to decide through feelings make decisions based on values or on what is important to them and to others. They do not require logical decisions, so long as the decisions are consistent with their values. While feeling persons tend to be sympathetic, appreciative, and tactful when dealing with people, their decisions are not based on emotions, but rather on values.

One hundred and twenty students (77.9%) preferred thinking and thirty-four students (22.1%) preferred feeling. A larger percentage of males (82.2%) than females (71.9%) preferred thinking over feeling. Even though the difference was not statistically significant (p=.1271), it is meaningful that although only one-third of all women are thinkers, nearly two-thirds of the women in law schools are thinkers. A larger percentage of students of color (94.1%) than whites (75.9%) preferred thinking over feeling, although the difference was not statistically significant (p=.088).

Students preferring thinking had a higher mean FSGPA (2.585) than those preferring feeling (2.440). While this association was highly correlated, it was not statistically significant (p=.1174). However, the students' TF continuous scores decreased as their first semester grades increased. That is, the more the student preferred thinking, the better the student performed (p=.003).

The thinking-feeling dimension provides insights into what motivates a person to learn. Thinking law students are most motivated to learn when they are provided with a logical rationale. Legal education seeks to help students to systematically understand the principles underlying the legal system. Thinking law students prefer topics that help them to understand systems or cause-and-effect relationships. Their thought is syllogistic and analytic. Consequently, if given a logical reason for doing boring, uninteresting tasks (i.e., outlining), they are less likely to complain about these tasks. One might predict that thinking students would perform better in law school since law school teaches to their level. However, thinking law students are likely to undervalue factors, such as the importance of human relationships in legal problems, the human side of legal issues, the role of values in legal decision-making, and the art of communication. Thinking law students need activities, like exposure to real clients, early in their legal education. That experience will help them develop their less preferred feeling. It is through these experiences that thinking law students can learn to appreciate the problems of people. Substantive law school courses need to develop mechanisms to constantly keep the thinking law students in touch with the role of values. Otherwise, it will be too easy for the thinking law student to objectify and dehumanize the entire process.

In contrast, feeling law students are likely to find little motivation in the structure of legal education. Feeling law students need to know that what they are about to learn can be put to work for people they are concerned about or in the service of personally held convictions and values. Feeling law students think to clarify their values and to establish networks of values. Consequently, even when their expressions seem syllogistic, they usually evolve from some personally held belief or value. Feeling law students need to be encouraged to keep that perspective. Without personal encouragement, feeling law students may find it difficult to be motivated, since they may find many law school activities boring and unrewarding. Feeling law students are more likely to understand legal material if it is presented from the human angle. Consequently, law faculty need to remember to interject into the discussion of cases the human aspect of the issue. This consists of something more than the cold discussion of facts, but rather of discussion of the underlying values motivating the parties. Feeling law students can master legal education and do well if they are in pursuit of a goal that has important personal value. Furthermore, because feeling law students are particularly motivated by approval, law faculty need to show appreciation for the work of feeling law students.

Feeling law students need to work on developing their preferred process of judgment as a reliable guide for legal decision making. They can do so by working on values clarification, developing concern for others, weighing long against short range good, and on determining what is more important and what is less important. Furthermore, feeling law students need activities that teach them to take into account the probable consequences of legal actions, especially where their own high value for the action makes it hard for them to see the probable negative outcomes.

Summary of How the T and F Preferences Affect LearningFN
Thinking

Feeling

Cognitive Style: Thinking law students favor a

Cognitive Style: feeling law students favor a

cognitive style that involves:

cognitive style that involves:

-making impersonal judgments,

-making value judgments concerning human motives

-keeping mental life ordered by logical principles,

and personal values,

-analyzing experiences to find logical principles

-attending to relationships,

underlying them,

-personalizing issues and causes they care about,

-avoiding emotional concerns while making decisions,

-staying tuned to the quality of the subjective tone of

and

relationships and seeking harmony in relationships,

-naturally critiquing things, aiming toward clarity and

-attending to the quality of their own emotional life,

precision.

and

-naturally appreciating people and their

accomplishments.

Study Style: Thinking law students favor a study style

Study Style: Feeling law students favor a study style

that includes:

that involves:

-having objective material to study,

-learning through personal relationships rather than

-compartmentalizing emotional issues to get clear

impersonal individualized activities,

thinking on the task at hand,

-learning by helping and responding to other peoples'

-analyzing problems to bring logical order out of

needs,

confusion, and

-studying with friends, and

-seeking to get a sense of mastery over the material.

-wanting to choose study topics that they care deeply

about.

Instruction that fits T's: Thinking law students do

Instruction that fits F's: Feeling law students do

their vest work with:

their best work with:

-teachers who are logically organized,

-teachers who value a personal rapport with students,

-subjects and materials that flow logically and respond to

-assignments that have a goal of helping people,

logic, and

-feedback that shows warm appreciation for the

-feedback that shows them their specific, objective

students and their efforts, and gives corrective

achievements.

suggestions in that context, and

-personalized assignments.

FNa. Adapted from Gordon Lawrence, People Types and Tiger Stripes 45 (1992).

D. Judgment (J)-Perception (P) Preference

The judgment (J) and perception (P) preference index describes the way an individual deals with the outer world. People preferring judgment prefer using thinking or feeling when dealing with the outer world. People preferring perception would rather use sensing or intuition for their dealings with the outer world.

Individuals preferring judgment (either thinking or feeling) tend to live in a planned, orderly way. They have a strong desire to want to regulate and control life. People who prefer judgment like to make decisions. They like to have things come to a closure and then move on to the next project. However, a preference for judgment does not mean that the person is judgmental, merely that he or she likes a structured and organized life where things are settled.

Persons preferring perception when dealing with the outer world like to live in a flexible and spontaneous way. They like to gather information and seek to understand rather than to control. Persons preferring perception tend to stay open to experiences, and enjoy and trust their ability to adapt.

One hundred and four students (67.5%) preferred judgment and fifty-four students (32.5%) preferred perception. A larger percentage of females (78.1%) than males (60.0%) preferred judgment over perception. The difference was statistically significant (p=.0179). A larger percentage of whites (67.9%) than students of color (64.7%) preferred judgment over perception. However, the difference was not statistically significant (p=. 7919).

Students preferring judgment had higher mean FSGPA (2.568) than students preferring perception (2.523). However, this difference was not statistically significant (p=.5903). The students' JP continuous scores decreased as their first semester grades increased. That is, the more the student preferred judgment, the better the student performed. However, the difference was not statistically significant (p=.112).

The judging-perception distinction is important in determining whether law students prefer structured learning environments or spontaneous learning environments. Law schools are highly structured environments. They require a student to make outlines, brief cases, read a certain number of pages, and write a certain number of papers. Judging law students prefer the kind of highly structured learning environment present in law schools. Judging law students take satisfaction in accomplishing the tasks of law schools and generally like law schools because of their system, order, defined tasks and structured assignments. Judging law students are more likely to have and follow a schedule. In fact, more than any other student, judging law students are likely to like the work of law schools. Judging law students learn more through fulfilling their duty than through curiosity and may sometimes encounter difficulty in their legal analyses because they have probably decided prematurely, on the basis of insufficient information, either that they are right or that there is nothing more to be done.

Law faculty need to provide judging law students with structure and organization, since they like to know what they are accountable for, and . . . be held to it. However, since many legal problems require spontaneity, [and] flexibility in the face of sudden changes, judging law students require exercises which get them to operate without structure. Law faculty need to help judging law students avoid fulfilling their need for closure when the problem really calls for a broader curiosity.

Since perceptive students prefer open and spontaneous learning environments, they may feel imprisoned in the highly structured environment of law school. Because perceptive law students like courses that are free-wheeling, flexible, and adapted to their interests as they arise, they are likely to find much of law school stagnant and boring. Perceptive law students need to be encouraged to organize and plan. They need to be encouraged not to procrastinate. Unlike judging law students, perceptive law students are likely to learn more through curiosity about the legal system than through duty to the studying process. In fact, even during examinations, perceptive law students are open to other possibilities even though their judging attitude might stand them in better stead. Perceptive law students need practice in recognizing when it is time to be open, curious and perceptive; and when it is time to stop looking and decide to act. Law faculty should be alert to occasions where seeking one more bit of information prevents a perceptive law student from making a legal connection that could have been made had the student been more decisive.

However, whether a law student prefers a structured learning environment seems to make no statistical difference in performance. That is, it made little statistical difference whether law students prefer a highly structured environment or an open and spontaneous environment.

Summary of How the J and P Preferences Affect LearningFN
Judgment

Perception

Cognitive Style: Judging law students favor a

Cognitive Style: The perceiving law students favor

cognitive style that involves:

a cognitive style that involves

-having a clear structure in a learning situation from the

-open exploration without a pre-planned structure,

beginning,

-staying open to new experiences,

-aiming toward completions and getting closure, and

-managing emerging problems with emerging

-having life organized into an orderly plan.

structures, and

-the stimulation of something new and different.

Study Style: Judging law students favor a study style

Study Style: The perceiving law student favors a

that involves:

study style that involves:

-planned and scheduled work drawing energy from the

-spontaneously following their curiosity,

steady, orderly process of doing their work,

-studying when the surges of impulsive energy come

-wanting to know exactly what they are accountable for

to them,

and by what standards they will be judged, and

-studying to discover something new to them, and

-treating assignments as serious business, and persisting

-finding novel ways to do routine assignments so as to

in doing them.

spark enough interest to do the assignments.

Instruction that fits J's: Judging law students do

Instruction that fits P's: Perception law students

their vest work with:

do their best work when:

-pre-planned structure, and a teacher who carefully

-they can pursue problems in their own way,

provides it,

-they have genuine choices in assignments, as with a

-predictability and cosnistency,

system of individual contracts in which the student can

-formalized instruction that moves in orderly sequences,

negotiate some of the activities,

-prescribed tasks, and

-assignments make sense to them, and

-milestones, completion points, with little ceremonies to

-their work feels like play.

honor successful completions.

FNa. Adapted from Gordon Lawrence, People Types and Tiger Stripes 46 (1992).