Interview with Dr Chenshuang Li about personality types

Anisha Hall Hoppe, Dental Tribune International

Fri. 26 July 2024

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Numerous studies have investigated prevalent personality types among dental students with a view to the predictive value for success in training. A new systematic review has found that the two predominant personality profiles of dental students in the US have changed over the past 50 years. The study involved the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which categorises personalities into 16 types according to the dimensions of extraversion/introversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling and judging/perceiving. The study found that, while the extraversion–sensing–thinking–judging personality type remains prevalent, the extraversion–sensing–feeling–judging type has been replaced by the introversion–sensing–thinking–judging type. Dental Tribune International spoke with lead author Dr Chenshuang Li, assistant professor and clinical director of the orthodontic clinic at the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in the US, about the findings.

Dr Li, given this shift in predominant personality types among dental students, what factors do you believe have most significantly influenced these changes? Are there specific societal or educational trends that have contributed to this shift?
There are several potential influencing factors for these changes. The overall personality changes among different generations might be the major causes. Although every generation has been influenced by improvements in technology, the technological development in the past decades has been dramatic. Subsequently, the ways that the younger generations use to obtain information and knowledge are completely different from those of the older generations. This could also significantly influence how dental students—and the general population—interact with each other. Just think about the changes from handwriting letters to typing emails, from making phone calls to messaging on social media!

How do the changes in predominant personality types affect the clinical performance of dental students and their interaction with patients? Have these changes led to modifications in clinical training and evaluation methods?
Research in 1997 found that, in the US, introverted students had a significantly higher performance on National Board Dental Examinations Parts I and II, but demonstrated a progressively lower class rank over the four-year period and were more likely to experience major academic difficulties compared with extroverted students. However, in South Korea in 2009, no difference was found between extroverted versus introverted dental students on their grade point averages in dental school. In addition, in 1990, research found that among the senior dental students in the US, introverted and judging learners tended to communicate more effectively than did extroverted and perceiving learners.

Based on the conflicting information provided by previous studies, we cannot make any conclusion regarding whether extroversion is better or worse than introversion in clinical performance and patient interactions. However, since the available studies on this topic do not necessarily represent the current dental school environments, the papers having been published 15–35 years ago, and a change from extroverted to more introverted is one of the major findings we observed in our study, we recommend that how dental students’ personalities influence their clinical performance in current dental educational settings needs to be evaluated. We hope that our study will draw the attention of dental educators worldwide for further improvements in teaching strategies and student support services.

“Although every generation has been influenced by improvements in technology, the technological development in the past decades has been dramatic.”

The study noted variations as well as similarities in personality types among dental students from different countries. How might cultural factors influence these personality differences, and what strategies could dental schools implement to accommodate these diverse personality profiles in their curricula?
Like social circumstances influence personality, so too do cultural factors. In addition, we must acknowledge that different countries have different educational systems. For example, some countries have dental school training after students graduate from high school, but some countries don’t allow students to enter dental school until they have obtained a bachelor’s or higher degree. With more and more students choosing to study abroad, dental educators are facing students from diverse backgrounds. Thus, providing an inclusive and equal educational environment is important. In addition, the patients we are treating now also have more diverse backgrounds than previously; thus, how to train our students to engage with patients appropriately is also an important topic that needs to be evaluated.

How do the personality types identified correlate with preferred learning styles among dental students? Are there any adjustments that dental educators should make to their teaching methodologies to better align with the changing personality profiles?
As there are no intensive studies on the efficiency of different teaching methods for students with each personal type, we cannot make suggestions regarding one teaching method over another for the current dental student population. However, we hope that our findings will bring awareness in the dental educational field to this aspect and will serve as a foundation for further improvements in teaching strategies and student support services.

Editorial note:

The study, titled “Dental students’ Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality profile in the past 50 years: Systematic review and meta-analysis”, was published on 10 July 2024 in the Journal of Dental Education, ahead of inclusion in an issue.