Students’ Personality and Susceptibility to Persuasion during Mathematics Groupwork: An Exploratory Study

Jieun Lee,Lillie R Albert

doi:10.46809/jpse.v2i6.35

Abstract

 The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand how and to what extent personality traits, positionality, and content knowledge influence students’ susceptibility to persuasion during groupwork. Personality surveys, recorded videos, and semi-structured interviews provided evidence to support the findings. The findings confirmed that individuals who have low levels of conscientiousness or high levels of neuroticism are more likely to be convinced during a group activity. Additionally, individual background of content knowledge influenced the group persuasion process. A rich body of content knowledge about a subject area helped students feel that they were more confident; those who had confidence were more actively involved in discussions and firmly stood by their own opinions during the social persuasion process. However, the findings indicated there was not a link between susceptibility to persuasion and learners’ sociocultural factors. These findings provide educators with insights for improving the design of constructive groups in the mathematics classroom.

Highlights

This exploratory study examines the role of personality traits in shaping one’s susceptibility to persuasion during academic groupwork
The construct of susceptibility to persuasion has been consistently linked to the Big Five Personality Trait Model, and it is widely accepted as the dominant model for examining personality and linking susceptibility to persuasion (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Wall et al, 2019)
The results of this study indicate how one’s personality traits, positionality, and content knowledge influence one’s susceptibility to persuasion during mathematics groupwork

Summary

Introduction

This exploratory study examines the role of personality traits in shaping one’s susceptibility to persuasion during academic groupwork. Susceptibility to persuasion (i.e., persuadability) is the extent to which individuals are willing to change their opinions on a topic (Abebe et al, 2020). “Susceptibility to persuasion (i.e., persuadability) is a phenomenon of the subject who is persuaded, but is influenced by plausibility of the story of which they are persuaded” The construct of susceptibility to persuasion has been consistently linked to the Big Five Personality Trait Model, and it is widely accepted as the dominant model for examining personality and linking susceptibility to persuasion (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Wall et al, 2019). Students communicate in different ways, including persuasion, ideasharing, organizational interaction, and other methods of communication.

Objectives

Methods

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Conclusion