Role of Personality Traits, Learning Styles and Metacognition in Predicting Critical Thinking of Undergraduate Students

Psychologists and educators are trying to understand the differences between people with the power of critical thinking and without it. According to two-factor theory, critical thinking is a result of the interaction between cognitive abilities and personality dispositions. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of personality traits, learning styles and metacognition in predicting critical thinking. Instrument & In this descriptive correlative study, 240 students (130 girls and 110 boys) of Ahvaz Shahid Chamran University were selected by multi-stage random sampling method. The instruments for collecting data were NEO Five-Factor Inventory, learning style inventory of Kolb (LSI), metacognitive assessment inventory (MAI) of Schraw & Dennison (1994) and California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST). The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient, stepwise regression analysis and Canonical correlation analysis. Openness to experiment (b=0.41), conscientiousness (b=0.28), abstract conceptualization (b=0.39), active experimentation (b=0.22), reflective observation (b=0.12), knowledge of cognition (b=0.47) and regulation of cognition (b=0.29) were effective in predicting critical thinking. Openness to experiment and conscientiousness (r2=0.25), active experimentation, abstract conceptualization and reflective observation learning styles (r2=0.21) and knowledge and regulation of cognition metacognitions (r2=0.3) had an important role in explaining critical thinking. The linear combination of critical thinking skills (evaluation, analysis, inference) was predictable by a linear combination of dispositional-cognitive factors (openness, conscientiousness, abstract conceptualization, active experimentation, knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition). Personality traits, learning styles and metacognition, as dispositional-cognitive factors, play a significant role in student's critical thinking.