Abstract
Previous research suggests that university teaching effectiveness varies with the age and personality traits of the instructor. The present study examined the extent to which personality traits associated with teaching effectiveness change concomitantly with age, and thus mediate the relationship between age and teaching. Using a cross-sectional design, peer ratings of 29 personality traits and archival student evaluations of teaching were obtained for 33 full-time psychology professors varying in age from 33 to 64. Teaching effectiveness was found to be inversely related to age and to correlate significantly with several personality traits. Consistent with the mediation hypothesis, personality traits were identified that correlated positively with teaching and declined significantly with age (e.g., approval-seeking); or correlated negatively with teaching and increased with age (e.g., independent).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blackburn, R. T., and Lawrence, J. H. (1986). Aging and the quality of faculty job performance.Review of Educational Research 56: 265–290.
Blank, B., Weitzel, J., Blau, G., and Green, S. G. (1988). A measure of psychological maturity.Group and Organization Studies 13: 225–238.
Butcher, J. N., Aldwin, C. M., Levenson, M. R., Ben-Porath, Y. S., Spiro III, A., and Bosse, R. (1991). Personality and aging: A study of the MMPI-2 among older men.Psychology and Aging 6: 361–370.
Cohen, P. A. (1981). Student ratings of instruction and student achievement: A metaanalysis of multisection validity studies.Review of Educational Research 51: 281–309.
Colligan, R. C., and Offord, K. P. (1992). Age, stage, and the MMPI: Changes in response patterns over an 85-year age span.Journal of Clinical Psychology 48: 476–493.
Costa, P. T., and McCrae, R. R. (1988). Personality in adulthood: A six year longitudinal study of self-reports and spouse ratings on the NEO personality inventory.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54: 853–863.
Dixon, W. J., Brown, M. B., Engleman, L., and Jennrich, R. I. (1990).BMDP Statistical Software Manual, vol. 1. Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford: University of California Press.
Eysenck, H. J. (1975).Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Handbook. EdITS/Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
Eysenck, H. J. (1987). Personality and aging: An exploratory analysis.Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality 3: 11–21.
Eysenck, H. J., and Eysenck, S. B. G. (1975).Manual of Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
Feldman, K. A. (1983). Seniority and experience of college teachers as related to evaluations they receive from students.Research in Higher Education 18: 3–124.
Feldman, K. A. (1986). The perceived instructional effectiveness of college teachers as related to their personality and attitudinal characteristics: A review and synthesis.Research in Higher Education 24: 139–213.
Horner, K. L., Murray, H. G., and Rushton, J. P. (1989). Relation between aging and rated teaching effectiveness of academic psychologists.Psychology and Aging 4: 226–229.
Horner, K. L., Rushton, J. P., and Vernon, P. A. (1986). Relation between aging and research productivity of academic psychologists.Psychology and Aging 1: 319–324.
Jackson, D. N. (1984).Personality Research Form Manual. Port Huron, MI: Research Psychologists Press.
Kegel-Flom, P. (1983). Personality traits in effective clinical teachers.Research in Higher Education 19: 73–82.
Kinney, D. P., and Smith, S. P. (1992). Age and teaching performance.Journal of Higher Education 63: 282–302.
Koeppl, P. M., Bolla-Wilson, K., and Bleecker, M. L. (1989). The MMPI: Regional difference or normal aging?Journal of Gerontology 44: 95–99.
Lawrence, J. H., and Blackburn, R. T. (1988). Age as a predictor of faculty productivity: Three conceptual approaches.Journal of Higher Education 59: 22–38.
Linsky, A. S., and Straus, M. A. (1975). Student evaluations, research productivity, and eminence of college faculty.Journal of Higher Education, 46: 89–102.
Marsh, H. W., and Hocevar, D. (1991). Students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness: The stability of mean ratings of the same teachers over a 13-year period.Teaching and Teacher Education 7: 303–314.
McCrae, R. R., Costa, P. T., and Arenberg, D. (1980). Consistency of adult personality structure in males: A longitudinal, cross-sectional and times-of-measurement analyses.Journal of Gerontology 35: 877–883.
Murray, H. A. (1938).Explorations in Personality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Murray, H. G. (1975). Predicting student ratings of college teaching from peer ratings of personality types.Teaching of Psychology 2: 66–70.
Murray, H. G. (1984). The impact of formative and summative evaluation of teaching in North American universities.Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 9: 117–132.
Murray, H. G. (1990).Does Evaluation of Teaching Lead to Improvement of Teaching? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Montreal.
Murray, H. G., Rushton, J. P., and Paunonen, S. V. (1990). Teacher personality traits and student instructional ratings in six types of university courses.Journal of Educational Psychology 82: 250–261.
Rushton, J. P., Murray, H. G., and Paunonen, S. V. (1983). Personality, research creativity, and teaching effectiveness in university professors.Scientometrics 5: 93–116.
Sherman, B. R., and Blackburn, R. T. (1975). Personal characteristics and teaching effectiveness of college faculty.Journal of Educational Psychology 67: 124–131.
Shrout, P. E., and Fleiss, J. L. (1979). Intraclass correlations: Uses in assessing rater reliability.Psychological Bulletin 86: 420–428.
Stevens, J. (1986).Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Tabachnick, B., and Fidell, L. (1989).Using Multivariate Statistics, 2nd ed. New York: Harper Collins.
Tomasco, A. T. (1980). Student perceptions of instructional and personality characteristics of faculty: A canonical analysis.Teaching of Psychology 7: 79–82.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This paper is based on a senior honors thesis completed by the first author and supervised by the second author in the Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Renaud, R.D., Murray, H.G. Aging, personality, and teaching effectiveness in academic psychologists. Res High Educ 37, 223–240 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01730120
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01730120