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

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  • Zisman, Chen
  • Ganzach, Yoav

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Zisman, Chen & Ganzach, Yoav, 2022. "The claim that personality is more important than intelligence in predicting important life outcomes has been greatly exaggerated," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:92:y:2022:i:c:s0160289622000125
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2022.101631
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lex Borghans & Bart Golsteyn & James J. Heckman & John Eric Humphries, 2016. "What Grades and Achievement Tests Measure," Working Papers 2016-022, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
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    6. Camelia M. Kuhnen & Brian T. Melzer, 2018. "Noncognitive Abilities and Financial Delinquency: The Role of Self‐Efficacy in Avoiding Financial Distress," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(6), pages 2837-2869, December.
    7. Demetriou, Andreas & Kazi, Smaragda & Spanoudis, George & Makris, Nikolaos, 2019. "Predicting school performance from cognitive ability, self-representation, and personality from primary school to senior high school," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    8. Ganzach, Yoav & Patel, Pankaj C., 2018. "Wages, mental abilities and assessments in large scale international surveys: Still not much more than g," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-7.
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    12. Demetriou, Andreas & Kazi, Smaragda & Spanoudis, George & Makris, Nikolaos, 2019. "Predicting school performance from cognitive ability, self-representation, and personality from primary school to senior high school," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-1.
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