The claim that personality is more important than intelligence in predicting important life outcomes has been greatly exaggerated

Chen Zisman; Yoav Ganzach

doi:10.1016/j.intell.2022.101631

The claim that personality is more important than intelligence in predicting important life outcomes has been greatly exaggerated

Chen Zisman
, Yoav Ganzach

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

We conduct a replication of Borghans, Golsteyn, Heckman and Humphries (PNAS, 2016) who suggested that personality is more important than intelligence in predicting important life outcomes. We focus on the prediction of educational (educational attainment, GPA) and occupational (pay) success, and analyze two of the databases that BGHH used (the NLSY79, n = 5594 and the MIDUS, n = 2240) as well as four additional databases, (the NLSY97, n = 2962, the WLS, n = 7646, the PIAAC, n = 3605 and the ADD health, n = 3553; all databases are American except of the PIAAC which is German). We found that for educational attainment the average R² of intelligence was .232 whereas for personality it was .053. For GPA it was .229 and .024, respectively and for pay it was .080 and .040, respectively.

Original language	English
Article number	101631
Journal	Intelligence
Volume	92
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2022.101631
State	Published - 1 May 2022
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Educational attainment
Income
Intelligence
Life outcomes
Personality
The big-five

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10.1016/j.intell.2022.101631

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title = "The claim that personality is more important than intelligence in predicting important life outcomes has been greatly exaggerated",

abstract = "We conduct a replication of Borghans, Golsteyn, Heckman and Humphries (PNAS, 2016) who suggested that personality is more important than intelligence in predicting important life outcomes. We focus on the prediction of educational (educational attainment, GPA) and occupational (pay) success, and analyze two of the databases that BGHH used (the NLSY79, n = 5594 and the MIDUS, n = 2240) as well as four additional databases, (the NLSY97, n = 2962, the WLS, n = 7646, the PIAAC, n = 3605 and the ADD health, n = 3553; all databases are American except of the PIAAC which is German). We found that for educational attainment the average R2 of intelligence was .232 whereas for personality it was .053. For GPA it was .229 and .024, respectively and for pay it was .080 and .040, respectively.",

keywords = "Educational attainment, Income, Intelligence, Life outcomes, Personality, The big-five",

author = "Chen Zisman and Yoav Ganzach",

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T1 - The claim that personality is more important than intelligence in predicting important life outcomes has been greatly exaggerated

AU - Zisman, Chen

AU - Ganzach, Yoav

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Y1 - 2022/5/1

N2 - We conduct a replication of Borghans, Golsteyn, Heckman and Humphries (PNAS, 2016) who suggested that personality is more important than intelligence in predicting important life outcomes. We focus on the prediction of educational (educational attainment, GPA) and occupational (pay) success, and analyze two of the databases that BGHH used (the NLSY79, n = 5594 and the MIDUS, n = 2240) as well as four additional databases, (the NLSY97, n = 2962, the WLS, n = 7646, the PIAAC, n = 3605 and the ADD health, n = 3553; all databases are American except of the PIAAC which is German). We found that for educational attainment the average R2 of intelligence was .232 whereas for personality it was .053. For GPA it was .229 and .024, respectively and for pay it was .080 and .040, respectively.

AB - We conduct a replication of Borghans, Golsteyn, Heckman and Humphries (PNAS, 2016) who suggested that personality is more important than intelligence in predicting important life outcomes. We focus on the prediction of educational (educational attainment, GPA) and occupational (pay) success, and analyze two of the databases that BGHH used (the NLSY79, n = 5594 and the MIDUS, n = 2240) as well as four additional databases, (the NLSY97, n = 2962, the WLS, n = 7646, the PIAAC, n = 3605 and the ADD health, n = 3553; all databases are American except of the PIAAC which is German). We found that for educational attainment the average R2 of intelligence was .232 whereas for personality it was .053. For GPA it was .229 and .024, respectively and for pay it was .080 and .040, respectively.

KW - Educational attainment

KW - Income

KW - Intelligence

KW - Life outcomes

KW - Personality

KW - The big-five

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VL - 92

JO - Intelligence

JF - Intelligence

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ER -

The claim that personality is more important than intelligence in predicting important life outcomes has been greatly exaggerated

Abstract

Keywords

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