Personality, leadership skills and critical thinking among University students.

Abstract

This report is about the research that was carried out in Makerere University Kampala. The research targeted students from four schools under College of Humanities and Social Sciences with a population of more than 1753 students. The variables of the study were personality which refers to a characteristic way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. It embraces moods, attitudes and opinions. Personality in this study was in the context of Five Factor Model also known as the Big five personality traits of Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. The intermediate variable was Leadership skills which is defined as the process of interactive influence that occurs when, in a given context, some people accept someone as their leader to achieve common goals. The dependent variable was Critical thinking which refers to a disciplined, selfdirected thinking that exemplifies the perfections of thinking appropriate to a particular mode or domain of thought. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between personality, leadership skills and critical thinking. The tools of measurement were questionnaires and the students were the respondents. The data was analyzed using SPSS and the findings indicated a negative relationship between personality and leadership skills. The second findings indicated a positive relationship between critical thinking and the personality traits of Openness to experience and Conscientiousness, the findings however showed no relationship between critical thinking and the remaining personality dimensions. The third and final finding of this study indicated a negative relationship between leadership skills and critical thinking.