Need for cognitive closure, tolerance for ambiguity, and perfectionism in medical school applicants.
Medical school admission
Multiple mini-interviews
Need for cognitive closure
Perfectionism
Selection for medical school
Tolerance for ambiguity
Undergraduate medical education
Journal
BMC medical education
ISSN: 1472-6920
Titre abrégé: BMC Med Educ
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101088679
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
28 Apr 2020
28 Apr 2020
Historique:
received:
27
11
2019
accepted:
13
04
2020
entrez:
30
4
2020
pubmed:
30
4
2020
medline:
18
2
2021
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Physicians have to deal with uncertainty on a daily basis, which requires high tolerance for ambiguity. When medical decisions have to be made in ambiguous situations, low levels of need for cognitive closure and high levels of adaptive perfectionism are beneficial. It might be useful to measure such personality traits during medical school selection processes. In our study, we explored the expression of need for cognitive closure, tolerance for ambiguity, and perfectionism in medical school applicants who participated in a multiple mini-interview selection process with respect to the final decision of admission or rejection. After participating in the multiple mini-interview procedure (HAM-Int) at Hamburg Medical School in August 2019, 189 medical school applicants filled out a questionnaire including the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale by Hewitt and Flett (MPS-H), the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale by Frost (MPS-F), the Tolerance for Ambiguity Scale (TAS), the 16-Need for Cognitive Closure Scale (16-NCCS), and sociodemographic data. After the final admission decision, the scores of need for cognitive closure, tolerance for ambiguity, and perfectionism of admitted and rejected applicants were compared. We also assessed the predictive power of need for cognitive closure and age for the admission decision in a binary logistic regression model. Compared to the admitted applicants, the rejected applicants showed a significantly higher need for cognitive closure (p = .009). A high need for cognitive closure correlated significantly positively with maladaptive perfectionism (p < .001) and significantly negatively with tolerance for ambiguity (p < .001). Low need for cognitive closure and older age were associated with a positive admission decision. Regarding the personality traits need for cognitive closure, tolerance for ambiguity, and perfectionism we identified interesting differences and correlations of relevance for physicians' daily work in medical school applicants who were admitted or rejected after participating in a multiple mini-interview selection procedure. Further studies are needed to investigate these characteristics and their development longitudinally in medical students and to correlate them with students' medical performance.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Physicians have to deal with uncertainty on a daily basis, which requires high tolerance for ambiguity. When medical decisions have to be made in ambiguous situations, low levels of need for cognitive closure and high levels of adaptive perfectionism are beneficial. It might be useful to measure such personality traits during medical school selection processes. In our study, we explored the expression of need for cognitive closure, tolerance for ambiguity, and perfectionism in medical school applicants who participated in a multiple mini-interview selection process with respect to the final decision of admission or rejection.
METHODS
METHODS
After participating in the multiple mini-interview procedure (HAM-Int) at Hamburg Medical School in August 2019, 189 medical school applicants filled out a questionnaire including the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale by Hewitt and Flett (MPS-H), the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale by Frost (MPS-F), the Tolerance for Ambiguity Scale (TAS), the 16-Need for Cognitive Closure Scale (16-NCCS), and sociodemographic data. After the final admission decision, the scores of need for cognitive closure, tolerance for ambiguity, and perfectionism of admitted and rejected applicants were compared. We also assessed the predictive power of need for cognitive closure and age for the admission decision in a binary logistic regression model.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Compared to the admitted applicants, the rejected applicants showed a significantly higher need for cognitive closure (p = .009). A high need for cognitive closure correlated significantly positively with maladaptive perfectionism (p < .001) and significantly negatively with tolerance for ambiguity (p < .001). Low need for cognitive closure and older age were associated with a positive admission decision.
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
Regarding the personality traits need for cognitive closure, tolerance for ambiguity, and perfectionism we identified interesting differences and correlations of relevance for physicians' daily work in medical school applicants who were admitted or rejected after participating in a multiple mini-interview selection procedure. Further studies are needed to investigate these characteristics and their development longitudinally in medical students and to correlate them with students' medical performance.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32345278
doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02043-2
pii: 10.1186/s12909-020-02043-2
pmc: PMC7189591
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
132Subventions
Organisme : Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
ID : 01GK1801A
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