Personality and Intelligence Predict Arts and Science School Results in 16 Year Olds

Abstract

and Tomas CHAMORRO-PREMUZIC 2)2) Goldsmiths College London, UK This study examined personality trait and intelligence scores as predictors of schoollevel academic performance (AP) (British GCSE; America Grade 10) in various arts (i.e. languages) and science subjects. The participant sample consisted of 80 school pupils from a British Sixth Form College. Conscientiousness and Openness-toExperience of the Big Five personality factors (Costa & McCrae, 1992) were found to account for 13% of unique variance in AP. Intelligence (Wonderlic, 1992) accounted for the initial 10% of unique variance in AP. For science subjects (maths, science) intelligence accounted for more of the variance than personality traits, while for English language (literature, language) subjects the opposite was true. The results further support the use of personality measures being used in academic selection procedures and confirms that personality can predict AP at school level. Limitations of the study are discussed.

Differential associations of neurobehavioral traits and cognitive ability to academic achievement in higher education

“…Our findings are consistent with that interpretation. Such associations have previously been reported in younger students, at preuniversity level, in which intelligence was more important than personality in the prediction of science grades, while the opposite was true for literature and language studies [88].…”

Conscientiousness Is the Most Powerful Noncognitive Predictor of School Achievement in Adolescents

“…First, we deal with the bivariate correlations between school achievement and all personality and motivational predictors: The correlation between intelligence and school achievement was high; compared to previous findings (Furnham et al, 2011) it was considerably higher with science than with languages. Although the three criterion variables were strongly intercorrelated, we found different patterns of correlates with personality and motivational traits.…”

“…Intelligence generally seems to be more important for achievement in science subjects than in languages. In science, logical analysis plays a great role, whereas in arts, especially in languages, traits like social confidence are essential (Furnham, Rinaldelli-Tabaton, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011).…”

“…Third, similarities and discrepancies in the prediction of different criteria of school achievement – grade point average ( GPA ), science , and languages – shall be assessed. Based on the findings of Furnham et al (2011), intelligence should be most important for science, whereas personality and motivational traits should be most important for languages.…”

Refining the Openness–Performance Relationship: Construct Specificity, Contextualization, Social Skill, and the Combination of Trait Self- and Other-Ratings

“…For example, among outcomes examined in their meta-analysis, Barrick et al (2001) found openness to have its strongest relationship with training performance (r D .14). Also, openness consistently has been related to investigative interests , and numerous studies have associated openness with academic performance (e.g., Connelly & Ones, 2010;Furnham, Rinaldelli-Tabaton, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011;McAbee & Oswald, 2013;O'Connor & Paunonen, 2007;Poropat, 2009;Richardson, Abraham, & Bond, 2012). However, in many of these studies and across measures, the effect sizes of these relationships have been small.…”