Personality Qualities Trump Intelligence

This week's article summary is Two Personal Qualities More Vital To Success Than IQ

A few years ago I heard a report on NPR that listed the three determinants of academic success: IQ, parents' socioeconomic status (both of which for the most part remain consistent during a child's education), and self-control (which is by far the most malleable of the three). This report came on the heels of the book How Children Succeed which highlighted the importance of fostering grit and a growth-mindset in schools.

The article below adds a new variable in achieving academic success: being open to experience. 

In may ways this is simply a re-naming of growth mindset, yet I it's important for teachers to help parents see that while their child's IQ is important, maximizing a child's academic potential is about developing their personal qualities.

Joe

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There are two trainable personal qualities which predict success four times more than intelligence:

Being open to experience and being conscientious are four times more important than intelligence in predicting academic success, a new research review finds.

People who are open to experience are more likely to be imaginative, sensitive to their feelings, intellectually curious and seekers of variety.

Conscientious people, meanwhile, are disciplined, dutiful and good at planning ahead.
Dr. Arthur Poropat, the study’s author, thinks the current emphasis on intelligence is misplaced:

“With respect to learning, personality is more useful than intelligence for guiding both students and teachers. In practical terms, the amount of effort students are prepared to put in, and where that effort is focused, is at least as important as whether the students are smart. And a student with the most helpful personality will score a full grade higher than an average student in this regard.”

The review, which is published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences, included data from tens of thousands of students.

“Intelligence tests,” Dr. Poropat explains, “have always been closely linked with education and grades and therefore relied upon to predict who would do well. The impact of personality on study is genuinely surprising for educational researchers, and for anyone who thinks they did well at school because they are ‘smart’.”

The good news is that conscientiousness and openness to experience are trainable.


“Personality does change, and some educators have trained aspects of students’ conscientiousness and openness, leading to greater learning capacity. By contrast, there is little evidence that intelligence can be ‘taught’, despite the popularity of brain-training apps.”