Academic Vocabulary: Academic Words - Olsen Amy E. 2012

Chapter 23. Education

What's Your Personality?

It is obvious that people react differently in the same situations and that people have different job and hobby preferences. In an effort to understand the reasons for these differences, researchers began to classify people's behaviors into categories called personality types. Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs-Myers, beginning in the 1920s, devel­oped one of the most famous personality tests. They based their studies on the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung's (1875-1961) work. Jung felt people had inherent preferences and that, to lead a successful

life, a person needed to follow his or her inclinations instead of trying to change them. Briggs and her daughter took Jung's ideas and began to study thousands of people to come up with questions that could lead to personality profiles. By 1956 they had developed a test that the Educational Testing 5 Service (ETS), the group that administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), was willing to publish. There was some initial resistance to the test since neither woman was a psychologist, but their work prevailed, and since then the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) has been given to millions of people.

One area most personality tests examine is how people prefer to interact with others. The questions aim to see whether a person is an introvert or extrovert. Introverts tend to be shy, and they do not enjoy dealing with people. They prefer having a few friends to spend time with, and they like working alone. Extroverts, on the other hand, relish meeting people, having lots of friends, and working with others. In school, introverts and extroverts often look at being involved in group projects differently, with extro­verts usually welcoming working with others.

Another area of difference is how people perceive the world. Some people are known as "sensors." They like to get information in a sequential order, they like facts, and they like hands-on activities. These are the people who prefer to use their five senses to gather information. They are the tactile people who want to touch something to test its reality. The other group is called "intuitive." They are fine with getting information in ran­dom order, and they enjoy dealing with abstract ideas. In educational settings, these differences can lead to problems.

Most elementary school teachers, about 70%, are sensory types, and most people are sensory types, also about 70%. The predominance of sensory early-learning teachers works well for most young students, but about 77% of college pro­fessors are the intuitive type. For many sensors, a college lecture given by an intuitive, who freely makes random ob­servations and uses generalities, becomes frustrating. They want an outline; they want order. They want concrete ex­amples. This difference makes academia difficult for some personality types.

Another difference is whether people are "thinkers" or "feelers" when they make decisions. Thinkers are very logical. They tend to be detached, and their goal is faimess. Feelers are more concerned with how the results of a decision will affect other people. They are concerned with harmony over justice. The last type of difference features the “judgers’’ and the "perceivers." Judgers like an orderly environment. They make a plan and stick to it. Perceivers prefer to be spontaneous. They don't like to make firm decisions. For this type, what works one day might not be the right thing to do the next day.

The MBTI asks questions that help people create a personality profile that includes the four ways of interacting with the world. Two possible personality types are the ISTJ (Introvert, Sensor, Thinker, Judger) and the ENFP (Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeler, Perceiver). These two types deal with situations dif­ferently, and they relate to each other differently, which can sometimes lead to arguments and stressfol situations. It can be helpful to understand these differences to better get along with each other and to better know oneself. For instance, a person can create a scenario involving an educational situation and imagine how he or she would act based on a given personality profile. Personality profiles, however, don't try to confine the individual. They allow for the multifaceted nature of each person, but they can help a person see one's inclinations. An awareness of why one behaves a certain way can assist a person in a variety of life's activities from education and career choices to romance and money management.

Predicting

For each set, write the definition on the line next to the word to which it belongs. If you are unsure, return to the reading on page 140, and underline any context clues you find. After you've made your predictions, check your answers against the Word List on page 145. Place a checkmark in the box next to each word whose definition you missed. These are the words you'll want to study closely.

Set One

in order

existing in someone as a permanent quality

preferences

an outgoing person

a shy person

□ 1. inherent (line 11) ...

□ 2. inclinations (line 12) ...

□ 3. introvert (line 19) ...

□ 4. extrovert (line 19) ...

□ 5. sequential (line 25) ...

Set Two

an imagined series of events

many-sided

an idea not related to a specific example

the world of higher education

pertaining to the sense of touch

□ 6. tactile (line 27) ...

□ 7. abstract (line 30) ...

□ 8. academia (line 40) ...

□ 9. scenario (line 53) ...

□ 10. multifaceted (line 55) ...

Self-Tests

1 Match each term with its synonym in Set One and its antonym in Set Two.

Synonyms     Antonyms

Set One     Set Two

1. academia

a. concrete

2. scenario

b. natural

3. tactile

c. university

4. inclination

d. preference

5. inherent

e. plan

6. abstract

f. simple

7. extrovert

g. extrovert

8. multifaceted

h. concrete

9. sequential

i. random

10. introvert

j. introvert

2 Finish the following sentences. Use each word once.

Vocabulary list

inherent

multifaceted

academia

inclination

introvert

tactile

sequential

abstract

extrovert

scenario

1. An extreme ... might spend a year alone and not miss the company of other people.

2. Some people say that those in ... are too far removed from daily life and live in an "ivory tower."

3. A study was just published that suggests kindness is ... in all people.

4. A local professor's ... ideas on time travel have won him a Science Foundation award.

5. My husband is the ... in fee family. He can visit with people for hours, while I prefer to sit in the corner reading a book.

6. In one ... I take seven classes and attend summer session to graduate early, while in another I head to Europe for six months and graduate late. I know which sounds better to me.

7. Kids love the new ... display at the Children's Museum. It lets them touch objects found in rivers and oceans.

8. The City Council's ... plan to restructure the city's departments will begin in departments starting with "A" and continue in order through the alphabet.

9. My first ... was to clean my son's room, but I stopped myself and decided he needs to learn to pick up after himself.

10. Sayuri wants to be a ... person, so she plans to major in biology and literature, as well as learn to play the piano and become an expert at fencing.

3 For each set, complete the analogies. See Completing Analogies on page 4 for instructions and practice.

Set One

Vocabulary list

scenario

inherent

inclination

introvert

academia

1. faulty : flawed :: innate : ...

2. likes big parties : extrovert :: avoids crowds : ...

3. detective : murder scene :: professor : ...

4. menu : restaurant :: ... : movie

5. aversion : snakes :: ...: sleeping in

Set Two

Vocabulary list

sequential

multifaceted

abstract

extrovert

tactile

6. sunset : visual :: a shower : ...

7. troll : mean :: ... : sociable

8. cow : animal :: economic problems : ...

9. yell : whisper :: : random

10. barber : cut :: dentist: ...

Identify the two vocabulary words represented in the photographs.

Internet Activity: Web Search

Do a Web search for three of the words below. Record a sentence from a Web site that uses the word. Also provide the address (URL) for each Web site. Consider how seeing a word in another context strengthens your retention of its meanings.

scenario academia introvert extrovert inherent inclination

1. ...

2. ...

3. ...

Interactive Exercise

Finish each of the sentence starters using at least one of the vocabulary words in each sentence. Feel free to add word endings to the vocabulary words as needed (i.e., -s, -ed, -ly).

Example:

An obstacle I have had to overcome in college is my inclination to complete assignments at the last minute.

1. I would describe myself as ... because ...

2. I would describe one of my friends as ... because ...

3. An obstacle I have had to overcome is ...

4. I like it when my professors ...

5. My favourite subject in college is ... because ...

6. When I am assigned to work with a group, I feel ...

7. I make decisions ...

8. One aspect of college that I really enjoy is ...

9. When I started college, I was surprised to see ...

10. The information in this chapter's reading is relevant to my life because ... .

A. World of Words

Keep your eyes open for new words. You will certainly encounter new words in the textbooks you read in college and in the lectures your professors give, but new words can be found everywhere. Don't turn off your learning when you leave the classroom. When you see a new word in a newspaper or on the Web or even on a billboard, use the strategies you have learned in this book: Look for context clues around the new word, try to predict the meaning, and check the dictionary if you aren't sure of the meaning. No matter where you are or at what age you may be, your vocabulary can continue to grow.

Words to Watch

Which words would you like to practice with a bit more? Pick 3-5 words to study, and list them below. Write the word and its definition, and compose your own sentence using the word correctly. This extra practice could be the final touch to learning a word.