Relationship between personality types and creativity: A study on novice architecture students

The first milestone and the foundation in every architect’s life is architectural education. As creativity is the core of successful architecture, focusing on its development in the pedagogical years would enhance every architect’s future career. Architectural education tends to give a one-size-fits-all approach to educating architects and helping with their creative potential, which neglects the students’ different levels of creativity along with their personalities’ individuality. This study aims to enhance each architect’s architectural pedagogical experience by acknowledging the student’s personality and creativity level which would help tailor a customized experience that would develop their full potential. This will be achieved by examining the relationship between personality types and creativity through the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT). The study is employed in the Architecture Department, Alexandria University - Egypt, where questionnaires were distributed to first- and second-year students along with design projects to be assessed by Architectural Department professors. Responses were analyzed using Pearson’s Chi-square analysis with Fisher’s exact test. The results indicated a strong connection between Intuition/Sensing and the creativity of students.