Identifying learning preferences among Italian undergraduate students studying the sociology of religion: drawing on psychological type preferences

This study argues that the notion of learning preferences (rooted within a coherent and established theory of personality and individual differences) may be more fruitful than the largely contested notion of learning styles. The case is illustrated by extrapolation from psychological type theory in the light of the profile of 581 students enrolled in undergraduate programmes embracing the sociology of religion at Padua University, Italy, employing the Italian translation of the Francis Psychological Type Scales. Overall the data demonstrated a relatively balanced need for teaching and learning approaches appropriate for introverts and extraverts, for sensing types and intuitive types, and for feeling types and thinking types. At the same time, the group was heavily weighted in terms of judging types over perceiving types, indicating a priority toward structured and disciplined presentation of the curriculum.