Types of Intelligence and Academic Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The concept of intelligence has been extensively studied, undergoing an evolution from a unitary concept to a more elaborate and complex multidimensional one. In addition, several research studies have focused their efforts for decades on the study of intelligence as a predictor of academic performance of students at different educational stages, being a stable and highly relevant predictor along with other variables such as executive functions, social context, culture or parental guardianship. Thus, the present study, based on a systematic review and meta-analysis, includes 27 studies with a total sample of 42,061 individuals. The main objective was to analyse the relationship between intelligence and academic performance using different predictive models that include moderating variables such as country of origin, type of intelligence, gender and age. The findings of this research highlight the significant, positive and moderate relationship between intelligence and academic performance (r = 0.367; p < 0.001), highlighting the predictive capacity on school performance when the type of intelligence (general and implicit; 35%) or the country of origin (45%) is taken as a moderating variable, with the explanatory models on age or sex not being significant. Therefore, it can be concluded that intelligence, in addition to being a good predictor of academic performance, is influenced depending on the type of intelligence or theoretical model taken as a reference, and also depending on the country or culture of origin.

Developmental predictors of mathematics achievement at the end of Year 1

“…IQ at 4 ½ years did not stand once controlling for academic school readiness. This particular finding seems to contrast with a recent meta-analysis (Lozano-Blasco et al, 2022) in which intelligence has been identified as the most stable predictor of school performance, and with some previous studies that indicate the influence of the child's IQ on maths performance not only in preschool years (Xenidou-Dervou et al, 2018) but also in formal schooling (Deary et al, 2007;Geary, 2011;Jamil & Khalid, 2016;Magalhães et al, 2020). A longitudinal study also found intelligence to be a significant predictor of number sense growth (i.e., ability to discriminate quantities without using symbols), from the first to the fourth year of primary school (Tikhomirova et al, 2018).…”

Academic Self-Concept Wins the Race: The Prediction of Achievements in Three Major School Subjects by Five Subject-Specific Self-Related Variables

“…Based on the assumed hierarchical structure, Duckworth and colleagues suggested amalgamating POE and COI into one global (i.e., across domain) variable [83][84][85][86][87]. They claimed that (excellent) academic performance could be better predicted via grit than via intelligence [86,87], a statement that contradicts the results of decades of research showing that general intelligence g is by far the best single predictor of achievement [81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96]. Duckworth's book on grit [86] and her grit scales [83,84] quickly gained a wide level of popularity [87,[97][98][99] and were translated into many languages.…”

University Students’ Achievement of Meaningful Learning through Participation in Thinking Routines

“…Expository methodology: an educational approach in which the teacher presents information in a direct and organized manner to students. It is a form of teaching in which the teacher conveys knowledge, concepts, or skills through verbal exposition, often supported by visual materials such as slide presentations, whiteboards, or multimedia resources [21].…”