The Relationship of a Measure of Critical Thinking Ability to Personality Variables and to Indicators of Academic Achievement

Abstract

Involving use of 100 graduate student subjects, this study was concerned with the interrelationships between scores on selected scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), those on the Cornell Critical Thinking Test (Level Z), and academic success as measured one year later by Grade Point Average (GPA) and total number of graduate units completed. Measures of ego development and critical thinking were significantly related for the sample of females, but not for that of males. Measures of personality maladjustment were not significantly related in either sample to a measure in ability in critical thinking. Finally, in each sample, critical thinking ability was predictive of success in graduate school.

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