Non-cognitive Traits Research Articles

A qualitative assessment of behavioral interview method among anesthesiology residency applicants

Background The objective of residency recruitment is to select the most appropriate candidate. While cognitive skills are identified before an interview and can be measured objectively, non-cognitive skills can be harder to discern. These non-cognitive skills though are a good predictors of future residency performance. A structured behavioral interview is better at identifying noncognitive skills compared to a traditional interview. Objective Compare the noncognitive traits identified in the interviews with those identified in resident evaluations Methods Using the semi-annual evaluations 6 residents were split between satisfactory group and excellent group. Behavioral-based interviews and traditional unstructured interviews conducted on the same individual were compared and the results of the interview were compared to the semi-annual and annual evaluations submitted by the teaching faculty and the program directors. The interviews were analyzed for non-cognitive skills. Results Qualitative analysis of behavioral interview narratives and the narrative part of the semiannual evaluations independently identified the non-cognitive characteristics of adaptability, decisiveness, time management, judgment, and the ability to work in a team. It also identified other essential non-cognitive skills necessary for an anesthesiologist, such as ability to prioritize, study techniques, ability to destress. Conclusion The noncognitive traits found in the excellent group response to the structured interview match those found in the semi-annual evaluations. In this case individuals who are suited to the field of anesthesiology are adaptable, decisive, team-players with excellent judgment.

Playful Computation

This paper investigates students’ experiences and teachers’ attitudes towards playful computation: an innovative pedagogy that emphasizes playful learning to teach students information and computing technology. A pilot study was conducted at a Californian primary school during the summer, involving 84 students and 5 teachers engaging in creative and playful computing activities such as 3D printing, coding drones, redubbing audio, building computers, and music production. Student surveys, teacher interviews, and classroom observations were collected in mixed-methods research to provide multiple perspectives on the challenges and benefits of implementing the pedagogy. Key findings indicate that playful computation significantly boosted student engagement and enjoyment, even surpassing student expectations. Teachers also expressed surprise at the increase in engagement as well as persistence, attributing this to the intrinsically rewardingnature of playful activities. Playful computation also promoted student self-expression and collaborative learning. However, teachers expressed concerns about the practicality of implementing this pedagogy in standard educational settings due to existing structural constraints of aligning with academic standards. Classroom management and lack of established norms for play in this learning context also limited their lesson plans and implementations. Supporting the existing literature on the benefits of playful learning, this research also suggests the need for further investigation into its role in facilitating flow and non-cognitive traits like grit. Investigating how playful computation impacts students’ testable learning outcomes is also recommended as a necessary research direction to facilitate broader implementation in American classrooms.

Cognitive Ability, Personality, and Psychopathology: A Stormy Relationship.

Cognitive and non-cognitive traits are frequently analyzed in isolation. However, there is an increasing acknowledgment that their interplay should be considered for enhancing our understanding of human psychological differences. Testing both traits in the same sample of individuals is desirable when addressing their relationships. Here, for that purpose, 299 university students from Spain (mean age = 18.5 years., 83% female) completed a cognitive ability battery comprised by nine tests, the NEO-FFI for assessing the big five personality traits, and the SCL-90-R for evaluating a range of subjective psychopathological symptoms. This resulted in 23 cognitive and non-cognitive variables that were submitted to a data reduction providing four factors: (1) neuroticism/p, (2) cognitive ability/g, (3) agreeableness/A, and (4) introversion/I. Summary factor scores revealed a positive correlation between p and I (0.47), along with negative correlations of A with p (-0.26) and with g (-0.24), and a negative correlation between A and I (-0.16). These factors were related to some degree even when the assessment of the cognitive and non-cognitive variables cannot be considered straightforwardly comparable because the former was performance based, whereas the later was based on self-reports. Conceptual and methodological implications are discussed regarding the three-way relationship among cognitive ability, personality, and subjective psychopathological symptoms.

Beyond milestones and percentiles: Revisiting non-cognitive and non-interpretive skills in radiology

While there is no precise formula for a great radiology resident, certain attributes and achievements may herald success during training. We briefly review prior works exploring predictive factors and evaluation metrics of top resident performance, noting that those focusing on non-cognitive attributes are over twenty years old. As radiology practice and education has substantially evolved in the interim, we revisit this topic from a contemporary perspective. Inspired by the literature and our own personal experiences, we suggest that the following non-cognitive traits are invaluable for radiology trainees: communication expertise, workplace adaptability, self-awareness, tech savvy and genuine interest in one's individual work and greater community. These characteristics should be highlighted by applicants, sought by selection committees, cultivated by mentors, evaluated by programs and valued by colleagues.

Temperament traits and economic preferences predict occupational choice beyond human capital variables

Standard labor market models have mainly focused on human capital theory, which emphasizes the role of education, experience, and individuals’ different skill levels in determining occupational choice. The recent literature, however, has shown that noncognitive (“soft”) skills are also strong predictors for vocational behavior. Economics provides little guidance on the effects of noncognitive skills on occupational choice. In applied psychology, personality/temperament traits and economic preferences refer to the characteristics explaining how individuals may act differently in similar situations related to occupational choice. We utilize the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (n = 4,731 to 5,882) to explore the value of incorporating temperament traits and economic preferences in occupational choice. We explore whether temperament traits contribute to occupational choice, using data from the NFBC1966 for the years 2004 to 2012, inclusive. Occupational groups are chosen to be distinct with respect to the requisite skills, education levels, and tasks. The novelty of our data allows us to determine whether temperament traits and economic preferences have significant impacts on occupational choice, while controlling for other variables related to the human capital approach. We find that temperament traits and economic preferences are important contributors of vocational behavior. Our analysis highlights that it is important to jointly explore the effects of the human capital model, noncognitive traits and other nonpecuniary factors in analyzing occupational choices among individuals. We reveal distinct temperament traits for different occupations. To our knowledge, there exists no evidence about how individuals’ temperament traits, economic preferences, and the human capital approach jointly are sorted into occupational choices. In addition, the novelty of our data allows us to include education, among other factors, to control our findings. We find significant differences across occupations regarding temperament traits.

A.2 Understanding Grit in healthy older adults at-risk for Alzheimer’s disease

Background: Adherence to healthy lifestyle behaviours or to prescribed medication requires perseverance with stamina, and this is captured by Grit, a non-cognitive trait defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Despite predicting cognitive decline and physical, emotional, and social functioning, Grit remains poorly understood and its neural substrates are unknown in cognitive aging. Methods: Ninety-five cognitively unimpaired older adults with a family history of Alzheimer’s disease were recruited through the PREVENT-AD longitudinal cohort. Participants completed tests that assess grit and conscientiousness and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA), a rigorous data-driven whole-brain approach, were used to examine if resting-state functional connectivity of connectome-wide voxels were associated with grit scores, controlling for age, sex, APOE ε4 carriership, mean displacement, and conscientiousness. Results: Our analyses identified two large (≥54 voxels) and statistically significant (p<0.01 corrected for family-wise error) clusters in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the left orbitofrontal cortex underlying grit. Conclusions: Being the first to identify functional neural correlates supporting grit in the aging population while accounting for the variance of conscientiousness, our study provides unique insights into the construct which has important applications in adherence to clinical and empirical neurological interventions as well as in successful aging.

Non-cognitive traits and homeownership in Australia

AbstractWe empirically examine the nexus between Locus of Control (LoC) and housing tenure in Australia. Drawing on data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Survey for the period 2001–2021, we find that being internal on LoC is associated with a higher likelihood of homeownership and transitioning from renting to owning a home, while being external on LoC is more likely to lead to the opposite. This result is consistent across multiple robustness checks. We also find evidence that social capital and income are transmission mechanisms through which LoC influences housing tenure. We provide some suggestions for policy.

Effects of grit on medical students' wellbeing during clerkships: a longitudinal observational cohort study.

In medical education, the clerkship phase is a demanding period during which medical students learn to navigate the responsibilities of medical school and clinical medicine. Grit, a personal quality regarded as a non-cognitive trait, refers to perseverance and passion; specifically, it represents the ability to endure hardship and work industriously toward a goal. Most studies analysed grit as a single concept and few studies have investigated the effect of grit on the well-being of medical students through the whole-specialty training (i.e. surgical and non-surgical specialty rotations) required in clinical clerkships. Therefore, this study investigated whether associations exist between medical students' grit, measured by the two subconstructs of perseverance and passion, and their well-being during clerkships in surgical and non-surgical specialty units. This one-year prospective web-based questionnaire study enrolled fifth-year medical students at a tertiary medical centre in central Taiwan between September 2017 and July 2018 in their first-year clerkship. The students' sex, age, and grit were measured at the start of their clerkship. Routine surveys were conducted over one year to assess burnout and compassion satisfaction for students' well-being, and the training specialty characteristics of the surgical and non-surgical specialty departments were recorded. This study included 92 medical students and 1,055 survey responses from individual specialty rotations. Descriptive, univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Our results revealed that medical students' perseverance, as part of grit, was related to lower burnout and higher compassion satisfaction during clerkships, but not the subconstruct of passion. Moreover, the positive trait of perseverance measured in our study had greater explanatory power for compassion satisfaction than for burnout. Furthermore, the results revealed that older medical students suffered from less burnout than their younger counterparts, and that male medical students expressed higher compassion satisfaction than their female counterparts. Perseverance, as a subconstruct of grit, is a positive personal quality for medical students' clerkships, and methods driving the cultivation of perseverance in medical education should be considered. In addition, even though positive traits such as perseverance equipped medical students for compassion satisfaction, additional factors attributed to medical students' burnout must be identified.

Emotional intelligence of radiography students in a low resource setting: A cross-sectional survey

IntroductionUnderstanding noncognitive traits like emotional intelligence (EI) is valuable for radiography students, academics, practitioners, and educators. It helps them become aware of how these traits can impact their training, placements, and careers. This study aimed to evaluate the EI of radiography students at a tertiary institute in Harare, Zimbabwe. MethodsA quantitative cross-sectional study using a validated Trait EI questionnaire was conducted on students at a tertiary institute in Harare, Zimbabwe. Student t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Spearman's rho were employed for data analysis. ResultsA total of 84 radiography students were enrolled in this study. The students had relatively lower EI scores (4.31 +/-0.49) as compared to most of their global counterparts. A significant positive monotonic relationship was identified between age and self-control factor (Spearman's rho = 0.22, p = 0.04). There were no statistically significant differences in mean scores for the global and the four EI factors when stratified by gender, even though males had slightly higher scores than females in all but the emotionality factor. There were no significant differences in the mean scores of the global as well as the four factors by year of study. ConclusionDeliberate, time-intensive curriculum interventions are needed to improve the EI of radiography students in Zimbabwe and this trend is potentially similar to other resource-limited settings. However, more context-specific evidence is needed to formulate the best techniques for EI interventions.

Neighborhood Contexts, Family Characteristics, and Non-Cognitive Skills among Adolescents

ABSTRACT With mounting evidence showing the significance of non-cognitive skills for morbidity and mortality, information on the antecedents of non-cognition skill development is central for research, policy, and interventions on health. As such, this study examines the extent to the which (a) non-cognitive skills—namely, conscientiousness, future orientation, and risk aversion—are associated with neighborhood contexts of disadvantage and disorder; and (b) the association between neighborhood contexts and non-cognitive skills sustains after controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES), structure, conflict, and cohesion among adolescents. Survey-weighted linear regression models based on a sample of 10,874 respondents from Waves I and III of The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) reveal that, as expected, neighborhood disadvantage and disorder are independently associated with conscientiousness and future orientation, such that more favorable neighborhood environments are associated with greater levels of these two traits. However, contrary to expectation, living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged environment is associated with increased risk aversion (i.e. reduced risk-taking). Moreover, we find that after adjusting for family SES and covariates, neighborhood associations are no longer significant, and family SES remains positively associated with the three non-cognitive traits. Overall, our results suggest that any association between neighborhood environment and non-cognitive skills occurs through more proximal, family contexts.

Relationship of Grit and Resilience to Academic Success among Dental Interns in Western Tamil Nadu – A cross-sectional study

Introduction:Achieving a high level of academic achievement during dental training is of paramount importance. The practice of dentistry has been widely acknowledged as being associated with high levels of stress. In addition to the intellectual skills usually important to identify and develop in medical professionals, there are noncognitive traits such as grit and resilience that are equally important.Aim:The aim of this study was to understand and assess the relationship of grit and resilience to academic success among dental interns in the region of Western Tamil Nadu.Materials and Methods:The study employed a cross-sectional design based on an interview schedule through online delivery methods using the Short Grit and Brief Resilience Scales, in all the dental colleges in Western Tamil Nadu. Scores for both scales ranged from 1 to 5. Pretested questionnaire with 24 questions was used. Ethical clearance and consent were obtained before the study. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 17, and thePvalue was kept <0.05 for significance. A Chi-square test was applied for categorical variables.Results:Out of the 214 respondents, 78% were female. About 60.7% of the respondents reported low grit and 62.1% reported moderate resilience. Self-reported above-average academic success was 74.8%. Self-reported academic success was significantly associated with grit (P< 0.05) and resilience (P< 0.05).Conclusions:This study provides evidence that grit and resilience are important factors that are indicative of dental students’ academic success. Improving grit and resilience may be an important approach to enhance dental training and academic success.

Cognitive and non-cognitive traits and the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic inequality

This paper studies the roles of cognitive and non-cognitive characteristics in a standard Roemerian Inequality of Opportunity (IOP) model. Using Australian microdata, we model the effects of individuals’ backgrounds and their psychological traits on two adult income variables. We find that measurable psychological traits (intelligence, locus of control, big five personality traits) are slightly more important than background characteristics (such as race, gender, social class at birth) in explaining income disparities. However, the fraction of IOP confounded by psychological factors is small (11%–12%), which suggests that background inequalities do not meaningfully reflect differences in cognitive or non-cognitive ability.

Students’ age and noncognitive traits predict writing self-efficacy and motivation

The present study explored the relations of students’ age and noncognitive traits (grit, growth mindset, and college self-efficacy) on writing self-efficacy and writing motivation. Participants (N = 457) wrote a short reflection in response to a quote, after which they evaluated similar responses, purportedly written by their peers, that were either exemplary or poor. Participants who read the exemplary essays were less likely to believe they could write as well as their peers (writing self-efficacy) and less likely to write a second essay (writing motivation), demonstrating a discouragement by peer excellence effect. Grit, growth mindset, and college self-efficacy were all positive correlates of writing self-efficacy. Writing self-efficacy, in turn, predicted the willingness to write another essay. Older students reported higher levels of writing self-efficacy and exhibited greater writing motivation. Older students also reported higher levels of grit, college self-efficacy, and growth mindset. A parallel mediation analysis revealed an indirect effect of college self-efficacy on the relation between age and writing self-efficacy. These results suggest that educators should judiciously model the works of students’ exemplary peers and foster noncognitive traits that improve writing self-efficacy. The results also suggest that older students are more receptive to writing.

Understanding the Determinants of Aspirations in Rural Tanzania: Does Financial Literacy Matter?

Aspirations have recently received increased attention in the analysis of poverty and its dynamics. The argument is that aspirations provide reference points for individuals’ forward-looking decisions and behaviours. Understanding of what determines aspirations is vitally important to design development interventions that can raise aspirations. In this paper, we analyse whether financial literacy is associated with individuals’ aspirations. Using data from more than 2000 Tanzanian households, we find a robust positive correlation between financial literacy and aspirations. Our results are robust to using alternative financial literacy measure, controlling for extensive covariates and non-cognitive traits, and sensitivity analyses to omitted variables. Overall, our findings suggest that aspirations could be influenced to improve poor individuals’ future investments and forward-looking behaviour.

(Not just) Intelligence stratifies the occupational hierarchy: Ranking 360 professions by IQ and non-cognitive traits

Occupational sorting, the process of individuals actively selecting into and being selected for different occupations, has significant implications for social stratification and inequality. The psychometric view of occupational differentials in ability emphasizes the importance of intelligence for occupational sorting, as it acts as a necessary condition to enter and remain in certain professions due to their high cognitive demand. The resulting cognitive stratification of the occupational hierarchy leads to strong associations between occupational mean IQ and sociological measures of occupational status and pay. Past research has been criticized for lack of representativeness and small sample sizes. In this study, we both confirm the psychometric view in a large representative sample and extend it to a set of nine non-cognitive traits. We show that the psychometric view holds (on a weaker level) for multiple non-cognitive traits, and using small-area estimation, we provide precise mean estimates and rankings of intelligence and non-cognitive traits for 360 occupations, including rare professions. Keywords: Social Stratification, Occupation, Non-Cognitive Traits.

The association between marital locus of control and break‐up intentions

AbstractUnderstanding couple instability is a topic of social and economic relevance. This paper investigates how the risk of dissolution relates to efforts to solve disagreements. We study whether marital locus of control (a noncognitive trait that captures individual's perception of control over problems within the couple) is associated with the prevalence of relationship instability in the past. We implement a list experiment using the count‐item technique to a sample of current real‐life couples to elicit truthful answers about couple break‐up intentions in the past at the individual level. We find that around 44% of our sample has considered to end their relationship with their current partner at least once in the past. The intention to break‐up is more prevalent among those who score low in marital locus of control, males, low‐income earners, individuals with university studies, and couples without children.

Understanding Gender Approach to Educational Achievement:

There is a known gender gap in higher education where female students have different learning outcomes at school and university levels. This study explores the perspective of a gender model approach to educational achievement in terms of the thoughts of outstanding students in several universities in Aceh Province. Through data analysis of the interview data of 400 exceptional participants to hear their perceptions about their learning progress. Gender differences in educational outcomes are related to gender differences in non-cognitive traits of education, such as behavior, interests, motivation, personalization, consistency, and external support; However, causal interpretation of the interview evidence and literature review has concluded our research by determining which factors are most decisive for female student achievement as a gender approach model. Thought in solving policy approaches can help close this gender gap, and this finding shows how gender-based policies can close it. The results of this study are expected to be a meaningful input for developing studies for researchers, academic discussion, and policy-making to support female students' academic achievement in higher education institutions. The achievements obtained will be a model for women to increase their capacity as social workers.

A dual process item response theory model for polytomous multidimensional forced-choice items.

The use of multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) items to assess non-cognitive traits such as personality, interests and values in psychological tests has a long history, because MFC items show strengths in preventing response bias. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in developing item response theory (IRT) models for MFC items. However, nearly all of the existing IRT models have been developed for MFC items with binary scores. Real tests use MFC items with more than two categories; such items are more informative than their binary counterparts. This study developed a new IRT model for polytomous MFC items based on the cognitive model of choice, which describes the cognitive processes underlying humans' preferential choice behaviours. The new model is unique in its ability to account for the ipsative nature of polytomous MFC items, to assess individual psychological differentiation in interests, values and emotions, and to compare the differentiation levels of latent traits between individuals. Simulation studies were conducted to examine the parameter recovery of the new model with existing computer programs. The results showed that both statement parameters and person parameters were well recovered when the sample size was sufficient. The more complete the linking of the statements was, the more accurate the parameter estimation was. This paper provides an empirical example of a career interest test using four-category MFC items. Although some aspects of the model (e.g., the nature of the person parameters) require additional validation, our approach appears promising.

Profiling health professionals’ personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence: a systematic review

BackgroundNon-cognitive traits have been theorised to predict characteristics, career choice and outcomes of health professionals and could represent a homogenous group. This study aims to profile and compare personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence of health practitioners across a variety of professions.MethodsEmpirical literature was systematically reviewed. A two-concept search strategy was applied to four databases (CINAHL, PubMed, Embase, ProQuest). Title/abstract and full text articles were screened against inclusion and exclusion criteria. Methodological quality was assessed using Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Data was synthesised narratively and meta-aggregated where feasible.ResultsThree hundred twenty-one studies representing 153 assessment tools of personality (n = 83 studies), behaviour (n = 8), and emotional intelligence (n = 62) were included. Most studies (n = 171) explored personality (medicine, nursing, nursing assistants, dentistry, allied health, paramedics), revealing variation in traits across professions. Behaviour styles were least measured with only ten studies exploring these across four health professions (nursing, medicine, occupational therapy, psychology). Emotional intelligence (n = 146 studies) varied amongst professions (medicine, nursing, dentistry, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, radiology) with all exhibiting average to above-average scores.ConclusionPersonality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence are all key characteristics of health professionals reported in the literature. There is both heterogeneity and homogeneity within and between professional groups. The characterisation and understanding of these non-cognitive traits will aid health professionals to understand their own non-cognitive features and how these might be useful in predicting performance with potential to adapt these to enhance success within their chosen profession.

The skill-specific impact of past and projected occupational decline

Using population-wide data on a vector of cognitive abilities and productive non-cognitive traits among Swedish male workers, we show that occupational employment growth has been monotonically skill-biased in terms of these intellectual skills, despite a simultaneous (polarizing) decline in middle-wage jobs. Employees in growing low-wage occupations have more of these skills than employees in other low-wage occupations. Conversely, employees in declining, routine-task intensive, mid-wage occupations have comparably little of these skills. Employees in occupations that have grown relative to other occupations with similar wages have more intellectual skills overall but are particularly well-endowed with the non-cognitive trait “Social Maturity” and cognitive abilities in the “Technical” and “Verbal” domains. Projections from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics about future occupational labor demand do not indicate that the relationship between employment growth and skills is about to change in the near future.