CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
It is expected that the
primary motive of any academic task provided to an individual is to
enable the individual access effectively and efficiently his/her
academic abilities and potentials to produce successful ends. In other
words, the goal of an academic task is to build in an individual a
strong sense of judgment and responsibility. This has always been the
preoccupation of educational psychologists and many stakeholders in
educational industry. The reason being that this has more often than not
constitutes a hindrance to academic achievement (Watson, 2002).
The focal point in this research work is
to provide scientific prove to the notion that there are strong
relationships of certain personality variables with students’ academic
achievement. Academic achievement is a major issue among students,
teachers, parents, school administrators, and the community at large.
Attempts have been made by researchers to unravel the complexities
surrounding academic achievement. Psychologists have put forward reasons
for disparities in achievement emphasising external factors such as
type of school, teaching methods, school location, instructional
materials, teachers experience, and so on (West African Examination
Council, 2005). Many spend lots of money in order to secure good schools
either for their children or themselves and those who can afford it
even invest on education abroad as they believe this will enhance
achievement, and which in turn gives an added advantage in terms of
securing gainful future achievement (Woolfolk, 2000). However, in other
for individual to secure achievements, there is need for such to put
into consideration the place of their personality.
Human personality and achievement are
the most important issues of personality and educational psychology.
Personality is a multidimensional psychological construct that can
influence the way students engage in learning and their academic
performance. This is possible because Personality is the sum total of
the characteristics that differentiates people, or the stability of a
person's behavior across different situations. In other words it means
those qualities the individual is noted for. Agbakwuru (2000), described
personality traits as consistent differences between the behaviors
characteristic of two or more people. By implication, personality does
not only vary from one individual to another, it also, defined a person
or gives the total identification of person. Daft, (2005) opines that
the five major personality factors include, surgency, agreeableness,
adjustment, conscientiousness, or openness to experience. However this
study will focus on conscientiousness or counterfactual thinking factors
and openness to experience factors.
Openness to experience involves being
inventive and curious. It makes a person cautious and conservative.
These personality dimensions and the poles of their traits appear as
critical considerations for academic achievement. Openness to experience
is a measure of depth, breadth and variability in a person’s
imagination and urge for experience (Udoudo, 2012). This factor relates
to intellect, openness to new ideas, cultural interests, educational
aptitudes, and creativity including interest in varied sensory and
cognitive experiences. As explained by Howard and Howard (1995) people
with high openness to experience have broad interests, are liberal and
show great novelty while those with low openness to experience are
conventional, conservative and prefer familiarity. The concept of
openness to experience involves several levels of bi-polar psychological
abilities such as: Down-to-Earth–Imaginative, Uncreative–Creative,
Conventional– Original, Prefer routine–prefer variety,
Uncurious–curious, Conservation–liberal. More so, McCrae (2004) defined
openness factors as experience involves active imagination, aesthetic
sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference to variety and
intellectual curiosity.
Counterfactuals on the other hand are
thoughts about alternatives to past events, that is, thoughts of what
might have been. Counterfactual thoughts are mental representations of
alternatives to past events, actions, or states (Byrne, 2005). They are
epitomized by the phrase “what might have been,” which implicates a
juxtaposition of an imagined versus factual state of affairs. Crucially,
counterfactual thoughts are often evaluative, specifying alternatives
that are in some tangible way better or worse than actuality. Better
alternatives are termed upward counterfactuals; worse alternatives are
termed downward counterfactuals (Markman, Gavanski, Sherman,
& McMullen, 1993; Roese, 1994). When upward counterfactuals focus on
personal choice, the resulting emotion is termed regret, which itself
has spawned a large literature emphasizing biased judgment and decision
making (Zeelenberg & Pieters, 2007). Counterfactual thinking is
defined in terms of cognitions about past events. Although anticipatory
counterfactuals (or “prefactuals”) and anticipatory regret have each
been explored in earlier research (e.g., Anderson, 2003; Byrne &
Egan, 2004; Gleicher, Boninger, Strathman, Armor, Hetts, & Ahn,
1995; Sanna, 2000), they fall outside the scope of our overview.
Counterfactual thinking seems to be a
common feature of people’s conscious mental landscape (Sanna, Stocker,
& Clarke, 2003). The capacity to entertain counterfactual
possibilities emerges early in life (typically by age 2) and seems to be
evident as soon as children have mastered the lexical skills to express
subjunctive ideas of “if only” (Beck, Robinson, Carroll, & Apperly,
2006; German & Nichols, 2003; Perner, Sprung, & Steinkogler,
2004). The primary function of counterfactual thinking centres on
management and coordination of ongoing behaviour. Thinking about what
might have been influences performance and facilitates improvement, and
it does so by way of several distinct mechanisms. Counterfactual
thoughts are deeply connected to goals and are a component of regulatory
mechanisms that keep behaviour on track, particularly within social
interactions (Markman & McMullen, 2003; Roese, 2001; Roese &
Olson, 1997).
The above shows that both openness
factors and counterfactual thinking factors as personality traits are
much relevant in an individual’s attempt to gain good academic
achievements. This is evidenced as openness covers individuals urge to
attain good academic achievement, while counterfactual thinking factor
study alternative to a past event. On this basis, this study
investigates Openness-values and counterfactual thinking factors
influencing secondary school students’ academic achievement in Ondo
Nigeria.
Statement of the Problem
In the quest to measure various factors
influencing academic achievement among students become an important
issue in other to work on the productivity in the educational system of
the country. although various researcher have indicted governmental,
family and environmental factors as major determinants of academic
achievement, yet only a few researchers have attempted to study effect
off personality factors, let alone placing emphasis of factors of
personality that deals directly with thought regarding themselves and
event like Openness-values and counterfactual thinking factors. This
study, therefore, is set to bridge the gap.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to
investigate Openness-values and counterfactual thinking factors
influencing secondary school students’ academic achievement in Ondo
Nigeria. Specifically this study shall;
- Identify various openness values influencing secondary school students’ academic achievement in Ondo Nigeria
- Identify various counterfactual thinking factors influencing secondary school students’ academic achievement in Ondo Nigeria
- Investigate the influence of Openness values on secondary school students’ academic achievement
- Investigate counterfactual thinking factors influence secondary school students’ academic achievement.
Research Questions
The following question pilot this study:
- What is the combined influence of openness values influencing secondary school students’ academic achievement?
- What is the relative influence of counterfactual thinking factors on secondary school students’ academic achievement?
Significance of the Study
The students would benefit from this
study in that, this study would create a familiarity between students
and those personality factors in view with reference to their academic
achievement. This study would enable teachers to understand their
students better and learn to work with them based on their strength on
the bases of traits they possess. Also, teachers will also learn to
rebrand their methods of teaching to sooth the learning environment as
predicted by student’s personality traits. Counsellors and policy makers
would have indicator from this study, which will help them in
counselling students and in the conduction of examination respectively.
Also the government will benefit from this study as the findings of
this study would serve as a vital information for them towards making a
good plan that will help education in Nigeria in the nearest future.
Delimitation of the study
This study operate within the scope of
finding the influence of Openness-values and counterfactual thinking
factors on secondary school students’ academic achievement in Ondo
Nigeria.
Definition of Terms
The following terms are defined based on how they are used in this study:
Personality- This is
the sum total of the characteristics that differentiates people, or the
stability of a person's behavior across different situations.
Openness-values- This is a measure of depth, breadth and variability in a person’s imagination and urge for experience
Counterfactual thinking- This are thoughts about alternatives to past events, that is, thoughts of what might have been.
Academic Achievement- This signifies the results of the total output of every effort put into academics
