Ability and personality correlates of general knowledge (original) (raw)
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Goff and Ackerman's (1992) Typical Intellectual Engagement scale and the Need for Cognition scale correlated with each other near the limits of their reliabilities, and were quite interchangeable in convergent-discriminant relations with other variables. We argue that these two scales may be measuring essentially the same personality characteristics that are specifically related to intelligence.
The missing link in the relations between intelligence and personality
Journal of Research in Personality, 2003
This study investigated the relationships between performance on tasks representing five cognitive domains (quantitative, categorical, spatial, causal, and propositional reasoning), self-attribution of ability in regard to them and also in regard to three general cognitive functions (processing speed, working memory, and self-monitoring and self-regulation), and the Big Five factors of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience). The participants ðn ¼ 629Þ were about equally drawn from each of the age years 12–17. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to examine the construct validity of scores on the three research instruments. Moreover, structural equations modeling showed that self-attribution of ability is, to some extent, dependent on cognitive performance. Cognitive performance is weakly related only to two of the Big Five (openness and conscientiousness). Self-attribution of ability is substantially related to all but the neuroticism factor. Apart from openness to experience, the dependence of personality dimensions on the dimensions of cognitive self-representation tends to weaken with age. It is concluded that the influence of cognitive abilities on personality is mediated by self-awareness about them and implications are discussed.
The relationship between personality traits, subjectively-assessed and fluid intelligence
Personality and Individual Differences, 2005
This study looks at the relationship between personality traits (Big Five), fluid (Gf) and subjectivelyassessed (SAI) intelligence. British and American university students together (N = 186) completed the NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the RavenÕs Standard Progressive Matrices (Raven, Raven & Court, 1998) after estimating their intellectual ability on a normal distribution. As predicted, Openness to Experience was modestly but significantly related to both SAI (r = .20) and Gf (r = .21). SAI was also significantly correlated (negatively, r = À.21) with Neuroticism. Regressing the Big Five personality traits onto SAI scores, showed that these personality traits were found to account for between 9% and 16% of the variance in SAI. At the same time, SAI (and Openness) was a significant correlate and predictor of Gf, which suggests that SAI may be a mediating concept between personality and psychometric intelligence. Results are discussed with regard to current and future research perspectives on the relationship between personality and intelligence.
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Intelligence, 1989
Psychologists have searched for personality traits related to intellectual performance for nearly a half century. The greatest success has been obtained with traits that are closely related to intellectual functioning, as opposed to more general personality traits. Intellectrelated traits include such characteristics as curiosity, but may also include less studied traits. A 76-item test of intellect-related personality traits was developed, measuring both traditional traits as well as less studied ones such as absorption. The test was administered to a group of 150 individuals, of whom 46 were Gifted children, and the remainder were either part of a chronological-or mental-age comparison group. Three component-based traits were obtained: Intellectual Absorption, Apathy, and Pleasure, and these were found to be related to intellectual performance. Psychologists have searched for personality traits related to intellectual performance for more than half a century (e.g., Baron, 1985; Wechsler, 1943, 1950). Some work on the personality-intelligence connection has examined the relation of general personality traits such as extraversion, neuroticism, or locus-of-control with intelligence. A recent series of studies, for example, has examined the relation between extraversion and spatial versus verbal IQ (Robinson, 1985, 1986). Traits such as extraversion and neuroticism have not typically been considered intelligence-related, however, and with the exception of the work by
Journal of Intelligence
The correlations between the measures of cognitive abilities and personality traits are known to be low. Our data based on the popular Big Five model of intelligence show that the highest correlations (up to r = 0.30) tend to occur with the Openness to Experience. Some recent developments in the studies of intelligence (e.g., emotional intelligence, complex problem solving and economic games) indicate that this link may become stronger in future. Furthermore, our studies of the processes in the "no-man's-land" between intelligence and personality suggest that the non-cognitive constructs are correlated with both. These include the measures of social conservatism and self-beliefs. Importantly, the Big Five measures do not tap into either the dark traits associated with social conservatism or self-beliefs that are known to be good predictors of academic achievement. This paper argues that the personality domain should be broadened to include new constructs that have not been captured by the lexical approach employed in the development of the Big Five model. Furthermore, since the measures of confidence have the highest correlation with cognitive performance, we suggest that the trait of confidence may be a driver that leads to the separation of fluid and crystallized intelligence during development.
Intelligence, 2006
The relationship between intelligence and personality has been of scientific interest for over 100 years. However, most contemporary estimates of these relationships are limited because they do not separate the variance due to general and narrow cognitive abilities. This study demonstrates that this methodological oversight can distort estimates of intelligence-personality associations by masking true effects and falsely showing others. To test this proposition, we examine correlations between several personality and ability scales, and then repeat the analyses using latent modeling techniques where variance due to general intelligence (g) and narrow mental abilities is appropriately separated. Our results show that estimates of specific intelligencepersonality associations based on observed test scores can be both erroneously inflated or deflated.
Intelligence, academic abilities, and personality
Personality and Individual Differences, 1997
It has been proposed that personality (in the narrow sense) and intelligence are uncorrelated and essentially independent constructs (Eysenck, H. J., 1994, Personality and intelligence: psychometric and experimental approaches. In R. J. Sternberg and P. Ruzgis (Eds.), Personality and intelligence (pp. 3–31), New York: Cambridge University Press). The results of this study show that personality dimensions measured by the NEO Personality Inventory stay clearly apart from academic abilities and psychometrically measured intelligence. Correlation and joint factor analyses demonstrated that most of the valid variance in academic achievement and intelligence was not related to personality measures in the Estonian population forming a separate dimension of individual differences. The lack of correlation between academic abilities and personality, however, does not exclude that individuals with low or high intellectual abilities might use their intellectual resources differently for the expression of their individuality. It was found that low-intelligence persons use their intellectual abilities primarily for seeking excitement and elaborating fantasies; high-intelligence persons, in contrast, use their intellect for regulating and controlling their affective lives.