Thinking styles and professional choise satisfaction of social profile students : implications for academic achievements in university

The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive power of thinking styles and satisfaction of professional choice for academic achievement. A total of 395 first year social profile students in the economics and management (18%), political science and diplomacy (11.9%), social sciences (40%) and law (30.1%) faculties at vytautas magnus university completed the thinking styles inventory (Tsi, Sternberg & Wagner, 1991), reported the grade point average (GPA) and satisfaction of professional choice (in 10 point scale). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that hierarchic and internal thinking styles together with satisfaction of professional choice predicted higher GPA. These results suggest that those social profile students who distribute attention to several tasks that are prioritized according to one‘s valuing of the tasks (hierarchic style), work on tasks that allow one to work as an independent unit (internal style) and are satisfied with the professional choice produce higher academic achievement. Implications of these findings for university educational and carrer counsellors and faculty teachers are presentedPsichologijos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta