Personality and information processing speed: Independent influences on intelligent performance (original) (raw)

Personality, arousal theory and the relationship to cognitive ability as measured by inspection time and IQ

Personality and Individual Differences, 2004

It has been suggested that the association between inspection time and intelligence test scores is mediated by personality/temperament . Personality, and in particular the trait of extraversion, has been implicated in IQ performance, and based on differential nervous system arousal, has proposed a quadratic relationship between extraversion and IQ. The aims of the present study were to investigate whether personality mediates the correlation between inspection time and IQ, and to test the prediction by Robinson that ambiverts (moderate neural arousal) would score higher on IQ tests than extraverts or introverts. 237 pairs of monozygotic and 297 pairs of dizygotic adolescent twins completed a line discrimination task to measure inspection time, the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (IQ), and the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Correlations between personality and cognitive measures were significant for the extraversion--IQ association, but not for any other personality dimensions, and hence no mediating role of personality in the inspection time--IQ relationship was indicated. A test of mean effects of extraversion on cognitive measures did not support RobinsonÕs hypothesis, as introverts tended to outperform ambiverts rather than the reverse. A psychophysiological test of the association between personality and arousal was suggested for future research.

The relationship between intelligence, personality and inspection time

British Journal of Psychology, 1996

This study investigates the relationship between intelligence test performance, a test of visual inspection time (IT) and personality and temperament dimensions. Howe's (1990) hypothesis that IT and IQ are empirically related because of personality or temperament variables is evaluated and rejected. IT and performance IQ (PIQ) were significantly related independent of personality or temperament variables. IT and verbal I Q (VIQ) were unrelated. Robinson's (1989) hypothesis that ambiverts (moderate extraversion) perform significantly better on I Q tests was examined and supported. Ambiverts performed significantly better on verbal and performance measures of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence ScaleRevised (WAIS-R) and on the Raven's Advance Progressive Matrices (APM). Mobility from the Strelau Temperament Inventory (STI) was also related to performance I Q (PIQ) and Raven's test scores. These results suggest an important role for the concepts of arousal and/or arousability in a biological model of intelligence. Implications for intelligence assessment are discussed.

Relationship between speed of information-processing and two major personality dimensions — Extraversion and neuroticism

Personality and Individual Differences, 1998

Recent studies show increasing evidence of interdependence of personality traits and mental speed. Probably the most useful theoretical framework for an explanation of these phenomena is offered by the theory of Eysenck . The ~~o~og~cu~ basis ofperso~~l~t~. Sp~n~eld: Charles C. Thomas] of extraversion and neuroticism and by the model of extraversion, proposed by Brebner and Cooper . Personality theory and movement. In B. D. Kirkcaldy (Ed.), In~ivi~uu~ differences in movement (pp. 2741). Lancaster: MTP Press.]. The aim of the present study was to test several hypotheses, deduced from the above mentioned theories. Predictions concerned the relationship of several mental speed parameters (e.g. speed and accuracy, variability of performance, decision-and movement-speed) to extraversion, neuroticism and their components. Measures of mental speed included the Hick-Jensen reaction time paradigm, Sternberg's STM scan paradigm, ZVT trail-making test and d2 concentration-endurance test. Extraversion and its components were assessed by means of the 16 Personality Factors questionnaire and the Big Five Questionnaire. In some cases extraversion correlated with speed, but we found no evidence confirming the existence of speed-accuracy trade-off among extraverts and introverts; the correlation between extraversion and mental speed probably depends on the "arousability" of the testing conditions. In some cases extraversion correlated with variability of performance. These results are more confo~ing to the arousal theory of Eysenck . Personality and intelligence: psychometric and experimental approaches. In R. J. Sternberg & P. Ruzgis (Eds.), Personality and intetfigence (pp. 3-31). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] than to Brebner and Cooper's model of extraversion. Neuroticism correlated negatively with the speed of response; some departures from linearity were also found. No significant correlation with error rate was found. Neuroticism also correlated with variability, whereby the direction of correlation probably depends on measurement conditions. 0

Juhel, J. (1991). Psychometric intelligence and inspection time: A well established but under debated relationship. Paper presented at the 1rst European Conference on Psychological Assessment, Barcelona (Spain), September 23-24.

Two experiments are reported which attempt to study the relationship between Inspection Time (IT), broadly interpreted as an estimate of the speed of perceptual encoding, and general intelligence, as measured by Raven's test (RAPM). In the rst study with 59 subjects, ITs, Raven scores, mean latencies and trial-to-trial intra-individual variability indicators on two computerized elementary cognitive tasks (a visual search task and a perceptual discrimination task) were collected. In the second one, ITs, Raven scores, and performances on a computerized analogical reasoning task were measured from a group of 36 subjects. Referring to Sternberg's componential model (Sternberg, 1977), this last task was designed to allow the measuring of inferred latencies corresponding to dierent information processing sequences. The correlation between IT and psychometric intelligence, computed for the 95 subjects , was about the same as those reported in studies using similar samples (r=-0.338, p<.001). Yet, a structural analysis of the relationships between IT and some elementary information processing parameters, with respect to their prospective inuence on psycho-metric intelligence, showed the weakness of common variance percentage. In addition, the second study's results showed the independence of IT with latencies and accuracy on the computerized analogical reasoning task. Our conclusion is that IT's relationship pattern with intelligence seems dierent from that shown by these various information processing parameters. Whether IT would be understood in terms of speed and accuracy of some perceptual bottom-up processing or in terms of eciency of some metacomponential top-down processing, we feel that IT is not very relevant to the study of cognitive abilities and, consequently, is not a "new" (as opposed to Binet-type tests) and "economical" measure of intelligence.

Juhel, J. (1991). Relationships between psychometric intelligence and information processing speed indexes. CPC : European Bulletin of Cognitive Psychology, 11, 73-105.

Cahiers de Psychologie Cognitive/Current Psychology …, 1991

Reviews research concerning biologically based intelligence. The relationship between elementary cognitive measurements considered as indexes of information-processing speed and psychometric intelligence is discussed. Certain results are discussed, including measurements of averaged evoked potentials, of basic information processing parameters, of reaction time (RT), and of inspection time. The underlying models are described, and the weakness of certain correlations is explained. Caution is advised in advancing a causal relationship between information-processing speed and intellectual competence. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The Effects of Personality Traits and Emotional Intelligence on Emotional Information Processing Speed

The Online Journal of Recreation and Sports

In this present study, we aimed to explore whether personality traits within the Big Five model and trait emotional intelligence may have the ability to predict the response speed to emotional stimuli in athletes. We also investigated whether athletes' response speed may differ due to the stimuli's emotional content. The sample included 62 male student-athletes who participated in the study. Participants first completed measures of personality and emotional intelligence. Afterward, they completed an experimental task to measure response speed to emotional stimuli. In this experiment, participants responded to neutral, positive, or negative emotional pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Results demonstrated that extraversion and neuroticism were not correlated to response speed to emotional stimuli. However, consistent with our predictions, openness to experience was associated (p< .01) with the emotional information processing speed of...

The mental speed—IQ relationship: unitary or modular

Intelligence, 1996

In his "specificity of mind" view, Ceci (1990a) asserted that mental speed-IQ relationships are only due to their sharing of a common knowledge base. According to the contrasting "singularity of mind" view. the mental speed-IQ correlation should reflect general intelligence. We tested these two views by letting 120 participants perform a battery of paper-and-pencil elementary cognitive tests (ECTs): a modified version of Lindley's Coding Test and two newly developed paper-and-pencil tests following the rationales of the Stemberg and the Posner paradigms. Three versions of each of these ECTs involving different knowledge bases (verbal, numerical. and figural) were devised. Intelligence tests employed were Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices and the Berlin model of Intelligence Structure (BIS). In the bimodal BIS, three content-based components (verbal, numerical. figural), four operational components (processing speed, memory, creativity, processing capacity), and a general factor are operationalized.

Intelligence and intelligence-related personality traits

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

Individual differences in speed of mental processing and human cognitive abilities: Toward a taxonomic model

Learning and Individual Differences, 1999

Extensive research within the field of learning and individual differences focuses upon the relationship between general intelligence and process measures derived from elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs). This emphasis has ignored data indicating that cognitive abilities are best described by three levels (or strata). It has also been suggested that mental speed is a unitary construct, although it is more likely to have a complex structure. To address shortcomings evident in this literature, a multivariate investigation (N = 179) was conducted. Factor analysis of 25 psychometric indices gave seven factors postulated under the theory of fluid (Gf) and crystallized (G,) intelligence. Correlations between cogntive abilities and parameters derived from 11 ECTs indicated that Gf (alone) was related to processing speed. This relationship is seemingly dependent upon experimental manipulations of task complexity. Regarding the factorial structure of mental speed, the results were unequivocal: Broad second-order factors may be derived from both ECTs and psychometric tests. These constructs are independent from abilities defined by accuracy scores and collectively define a general cognitive speed factor. Implications of these findings are discussed. It would appear that mental speed is more intricate than proposed, and that cognitive complexity (reflected in stimulus-response compatibility effects) plays a crucial role in its ontogenesis. In addition, several explanatory models linking intelligence to processing speed are untenable. It is likely that the search for a basic process of intelligence by means of mental speed frameworks (alone) is misguided.