Openness to Experience, Intellect, and Cognitive Ability

Abstract

An instrument designed to separate 2 midlevel traits within each of the Big Five (the Big Five Aspect Scales [BFAS]) was used to clarify the relation of personality to cognitive ability. The BFAS measures Openness to Experience and Intellect as separate (although related) traits, and refers to the broader Big Five trait as Openness/Intellect. In 2 samples (N = 125 and 189), Intellect was independently associated with general intelligence (g) and with verbal and nonverbal intelligence about equally. Openness was independently associated only with verbal intelligence. Implications of these findings are discussed for the empirical and conceptual relations of intelligence to personality and for the mechanisms potentially underlying both Openness/Intellect and cognitive ability.

Coping with University Education: The relationships of Time Management Behaviour and Work Engagement with the Five Factor Model Aspects

“…Work engagement represents the cognitive-affective value and enjoyment experienced while learning. This is consistent with its significant associations with both Openness (O) and Intellect (O), two traits reflecting a higher tendency to engage with sensory and intellectual stimuli respectively (DeYoung, Quilty, Peterson, & Gray, 2014). In contrast, Time Management Behaviour represents a selfregulatory behaviour, the means by which students arrange their work in the most efficient way.…”

Cognitive specialization for verbal vs. spatial ability in men and women: Neural and behavioral correlates

“…Openness/Intellect is the Big Five trait that is most often positively correlated with GCA (Ackerman & Heggestad, 1997;DeYoung et al, 2005), but there is scant evidence for other cognitionpersonality relationships. DeYoung and colleagues reported slightly greater correlations of Openness with verbal than spatial ability, though in contrast to the current methods, these measures both included GCA and thus were positively correlated (DeYoung et al, 2014).…”

Intelligence, creativity, and cognitive control: The common and differential involvement of executive functions in intelligence and creativity

“…First of all, openness typically shows stronger correlations with crystallized rather than fluid intelligence (Ashton et al, 2000). Moreover, within the conceptual framework dividing the openness into two aspects of openness and intellect (DeYoung, Quilty, & Peterson, 2007), intelligence appears to be particularly related to the intellect aspect (DeYoung, Quilty, Peterson, & Gray, 2014), whereas creativity shows higher correlations with the openness aspect (Kaufman, 2013; Nusbaum & Silvia, 2011a). However, different aspects of the openness construct also share some common mechanisms, which likely include the drive to seek and explore new information.…”