TPC-Journal-V4-Issue4

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 4 384 As found in the real self and the preferred self of the postgraduate students, the incongruence in personality traits of the undergraduate students was most obvious in phase 3. Figure 6 exhibits eight strong preferred-self traits (scores of more than 60) including optimism, achievement, dominance, self-confidence, self-satisfaction, creativity, work centered and playful. In contrast, the undergraduate students indicated scores below 40 for two preferred-self traits—support seeking and security seeking—indicating a suppression of the traits. The undergraduate students did not indicate any extreme low scores (less than 30) or extreme high scores (more than 70) in either the real-self or the preferred-self traits in phase 3. The researchers found 26 traits to be significantly different ( p < 0.05). The five traits that were found to be significantly higher in the real self were the same as in phase 2 (negativity, support seeking, self-blaming, security seeking and intellectualistic). Twenty-one traits were found to be significantly higher in the preferred self: optimistic, achievement, dominance, endurance, order, psychologically perceptive, nurturance, affiliation, social energy, exhibition, self-confidence, personal adjustment, self-satisfaction, creativity, structure valuing, masculinity, respectful, work centered, playful, affected and scientific. Personality Changes over Phases of the Transitional Period Real-self personality traits. Postgraduate and undergraduate students did not exhibit extreme real- self personality traits (scores of less than 30 or more than 70) throughout the process of the university’s transformation. The researchers performed nonparametric tests to examine changes within the real-self traits of the postgraduate and undergraduate students throughout the three phases of the study (see Figures 8 and 9). As shown in Figures 7 and 8, the researchers found more significant changes within the real-self traits of the postgraduate students compared to those of the undergraduate students. Sixteen real-self traits of the postgraduate students experienced significant changes over the three phases. Among the 16 real-self traits, eight traits (optimism, dominance, social energy, exhibition, self-confidence, structure valuing, masculinity and work centered) increased significantly over the three phases, while two traits (support seeking and self-blaming) decreased significantly over the three phases. Five traits decreased in phase 2, but increased significantly again in phase 3: enthusiasm, change, personal adjustment, creativity and playful. The negativity trait increased during Figure 6. Undergraduate students’ personality traits (real/preferred) in phase 3. * p < 0.05 . ** p < 0.01. 30 40 50 60 70 Enthusiasm **Optimism **Negativity *Communality * *Achievement **Dominance **Endurance **Order **Psychologically Perceptive **Nurturance **Affiliation **Social Energy **Exhibition Autonomy Aggression Change **Support Seeking **Self-Blaming Deference Counseling Readiness Self-Control **Self-Confidence **Personal Adjustment **Self-Satisfaction **Creativity **Structure Valuing **Masculinity Femininity Fault Finding **Respectful **Work Centered **Playful **Security Seeking **Affected **Intellectualistic Pragmatic **Scientific Real Self Preferred Self