Personality Traits of High Achieving Students at Ajloun Governorate

Abstract

Personality traits are a vital topic in psychology across its numerous fields. They differ from one individual to another, even for the same individual, and from one age group to another. Many teachers and educators in Jordan are still unaware of the important role of personality traits and their relationship with high achieving individuals. Some believe that intelligence or mental ability is the only influential factor in giftedness. Therefore, the current study examines the personality traits of high achieving students at Ajloun governorate. Another objective was to study if there are any statistically significant differences in the personality traits of high achieving students in terms of gender The sample of the study consisted of all high achieving students at King Abdullah II School for Excellence/Ajloun, totaling (380) male and female students. A 60-item questionnaire for five personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and vigilance conscientiousness) was administered. The study revealed that the mean scores of the high achieving students’ personality traits at Ajloun governorate ranged from 3.52_4.07 with “openness to experience” ranking first (M=4.07), followed by “extraversion” (M=3.91), then “agreeableness” (M=3.81), followed by “vigilance conscientiousness” (M=3.77), and finally “neuroticism” (M=3.52). The study revealed no statistically significant differences (a=0.05) due to gender in the total domains, except for the “neurotic” domain, where differences were in favor of females. In light of the results, some recommendations were suggested including the need for more counseling and training programs should be established to help high achieving students develop their positive personality traits, the development of curricula based on activities enhances the positive personality traits of high achieving individuals and organizing extracurricular student activities to develop their positive personality traits.