Nonability Traits Research Articles

Intelligence … moving beyond the lowest common denominator.

Despite a century of use in assessing children for predicting academic success, IQ theory and assessments largely overlook the intellectual repertoires of adolescents and adults that are not common, including declarative, procedural, and tacit knowledge. Such knowledge and skill repertoires are essential elements of adult intellectual life and livelihood. A proposal for considering a wider range of knowledge and skills in the definition and assessment of intelligence is offered, along with ideas for moving forward in both research and applications. When intelligence is considered beyond the lowest common denominator, it is clear that there are many important questions have yet to be answered about adolescent and adult intellectual development, maintenance, and decline, occupational performance, relations between intelligence and nonability traits, and the role of engagement in day-to-day intellectual functioning. The proposed focus is to reconsider what it means to be an intelligent adult beyond the IQ measures and to recognize that adults, on average, are far more "intelligent" than they have been considered to be by traditional IQ assessments developed over the last century. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Ability and non-ability traits in chess skill

Chess is an appropriate model to study ability and non-ability traits as related with performance because it bears intellectual and emotional demanding requirements. With a group of amateur chess players (n = 100), the current study addressed two interrelated aims. First, we assessed whether the three broad PEN personality factors (psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism), and emotion regulation traits (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) differentiated chess players from the general population. Second, we compared the association of domain knowledge and personality/emotion traits with chess skill. The main findings indicated that chess players scored lower in neuroticism and higher in expressive suppression compared with the general population. Moreover, chess knowledge related in a greater extent with chess skill than personality/emotion regulation traits, even though extraversion explained additional variability in chess skill. Overall, the findings suggest that non-ability traits may be influential in the selection of the chess environment. Besides, the findings corroborate the stronger impact of cognitive ability than personality traits on intellectual performance found in other domains.

Analysis of a mindset intervention

Mindset refers to a person’s beliefs about the nature of their abilities—whether they believe their ability in a given domain is malleable or fixed. We investigated whether a brief, online intervention could alter ability and non-ability traits, including mindset of intelligence, locus of control, challenge-approach motivation, grit, and performance on cognitive ability tests. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that measures of mindset, grit, and locus of control loaded onto a common self-determination factor, which was independent of a second factor reflecting fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Multilevel modeling further revealed that participants who received a mindset intervention reported more growth mindset, internal locus of control, challenge-approach motivation, and self-determination. The mindset intervention did not alter cognitive ability scores or grittiness.

Adult development in the wild: The determinants of autonomous learning in a Massive Open Online Course

The current study examines age and non-ability traits as determinants of participation in an autonomous learning activity, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Framed within investment theories of adult intellectual development, we tested a model in which course performance and completion were predicted by age, trait complexes (constellations of personality variables), prior knowledge, interest, and course affective engagement. Trait complexes and interests were linked to objective course behavioral data for a sample of adult learners engaged in the course (N = 108; Mage = 44.2, SD = 17.3). The intellectual and mastery trait complex was positively associated with finding the course engaging; no such relationship was found for the traditional and avoidance trait complex. Older adults participated in more course activities than younger adults, which led to better course performance. These findings highlight the factors that lead to continuous intellectual development through the lifespan.

Is cognitive ability a liability? A critique and future research agenda on skilled performance.

Over a century of psychological research provides strong and consistent support for the idea that cognitive ability correlates positively with success in tasks that people face in employment, education, and everyday life. Recent experimental research, however, has converged on a different and provocative conclusion, namely that lower-ability people can actually be more effective performers within special environments characterized by features such as time pressure, social evaluation, and unpredictable task change. If this conclusion is true, it has extensive implications for practices such as personnel selection, training design, and teaching methods. The current article reexamines and reinterprets this research within the context of well-established resource theories of cognitive processing and skill acquisition leading to a less provocative conclusion that serves to reiterate the benefits of cognitive ability for task performance. Following this reexamination, we conclude by providing a research agenda for examining the determinants of skilled performance in dynamic task environments, including the following: (a) broadening the range of abilities and task difficulties examined, (b) considering the role of nonability traits and goals in skilled performance (e.g., personality, learning, and performance goals), (c) investigating the processes (e.g., problem solving strategies) that people use in complex environments, (d) developing research designs and analytic strategies for examining adaptive performance, and (e) investigating how best to train for adaptive performance.

Trait complexes and academic achievement: Old and new ways of examining personality in educational contexts

BACKGROUND. Although recent research has provided evidence for the predictive validity of personality traits in academic settings, the path to an improved understanding of the nature of personality influences on academic achievement involves a reconceptualization of both criterion and predictor construct spaces. AIMS. For the criterion space, one needs to consider student behaviours beyond grades and level of educational attainment, and include what the student does among other things outside of the classroom. For the predictor space, it is possible to bring some order to the myriad personality constructs that have been developed over the last century, by focusing on common variance among personality and other non-ability traits. METHODS. We review these conceptual issues and several empirical studies. CONCLUSIONS. We demonstrate the possible increments in understanding non-ability determinants of academic achievement that may be obtained by focusing on areas where there is a theoretical convergence between predictor and criterion spaces.

Developing and demonstrating knowledge: Ability and non-ability determinants of learning and performance

Ability and non-ability traits were examined as predictors of learning, operationalized as the development of knowledge structure accuracy, and exam performance in a semester-long course. As predicted by investment theories of intellectual development, both cognitive ability and non-ability traits were important determinants of learning and exam performance. Mastery goal orientation (the focus on developing competence) was related to learning, but not exam performance. Conscientiousness was positively related to learning and exam performance. Performance-avoid orientation (a focus on avoiding normative evaluations of incompetence) was negatively related to the development of knowledge structure accuracy, but was positively related to exam performance after accounting for knowledge structure accuracy and cognitive ability — suggesting that wanting to avoid failure may be functional for exam performance, but dysfunctional for learning.

The roles of ability, personality, and interests in acquiring current events knowledge: A longitudinal study

The purpose of this study was to investigate sources of inter-individual differences in current events knowledge. The study occurred in two sessions. In the initial session, 579 participants completed tests to ability, personality, and interest factors, as well as prior knowledge of current events. Approximately 10 weeks later, participants completed tests to assess new knowledge of current events, acquired since the initial session. Structural equation modeling revealed positive effects of both ability and non-ability factors on prior knowledge, and in turn, a large positive effect of prior knowledge on new knowledge. Results are interpreted in the context of theories of human intelligence that integrate ability and non-ability traits.

Determinants of domain knowledge and independent study learning in an adult sample.

The ability (fluid and crystallized intelligence) and nonability (personality, interests, self-concept, etc.) determinants of domain knowledge before and after an independent learning opportunity were evaluated in the context of a study of 141 adults between the ages of 18 and 69. The domain knowledge under consideration included an array of financial issues, including financial planning, retirement planning, debt management, and educational savings accounts. Crystallized intelligence was a stronger predictor than fluid intelligence of domain knowledge prior to learning, and nonability traits provided significant incremental predictive validity. After learning, fluid intelligence showed a marked increase in the prediction of domain knowledge, but the final correlation did not exceed that of crystallized intelligence. Implications for optimizing the prediction of educational success of adults are discussed.

Personality level on the big five and the structure of intelligence

Research about changes in the structure of intelligence has generally not focused on the possible role played by personality traits. However, previous findings suggest that some personality traits (especially Neuroticism) could affect the structure of intelligence. Recently, there is a renewed interest in developing links between personality and intelligence. This interest calls for a theoretical integration of ability and non-ability traits. From this standpoint, the relationships between ability and non-ability traits at the structural level should be investigated. The NEO-FFI and three cognitive tests (PMA-V, PMA-E, and PMA-R) were administered to 569 university students. Samples were divided into three groups according to personality scores. This division was conducted separately for every personality trait. Further, the g factor was extracted in every group. Results show no change in the importance of the g factor across personality level groups. This pattern is replicated for the Big-Five. Therefore, it is concluded that personality traits play no role in the changes in the structure of intelligence. Possible explanations for this lack of differences between personality level groups, and future directions are discussed.

A possible model for understanding the personality--intelligence interface.

Despite the recent increase in the number of studies examining empirical links between personality and intelligence (see Hofstee, 2001; Zeidner & Matthews, 2000), a theoretical integration of ability and nonability traits remains largely unaddressed. This paper presents a possible conceptual framework for understanding the personality-intelligence interface. In doing so, it conceptualizes three different levels of intelligence, namely, intellectual ability (which comprises both Gf and Gc), IQ test performance and subjectively assessed intelligence (a mediator between personality, intellectual ability and IQ test performance). Although the model draws heavily upon correlation evidence, each of its paths may be tested independently. The presented model may, therefore, be used to explore causation and further develop theoretical approaches to understanding the relation between ability and nonability traits underlying human performance.

The locus of adult intelligence: Knowledge, abilities, and nonability traits.

The locus of adult intelligence: Knowledge, abilities, and nonability traits.