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Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Personal intelligence, the ability to understand and use personality information, can now be measured. Research indicates it may be a unified mental ability with significant predictive power.

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Cognitive Science
Personality Psychology

Background:

Personal intelligence involves reasoning about personality and using this information to guide actions.
Previous research has not established a reliable measure for personal intelligence.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop and validate an ability-based measure of personal intelligence.
To determine if personal intelligence can be reliably measured.
To investigate if personal intelligence exists as a unitary construct.

Main Methods:

Development of the Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI), a 4-section ability-based measure.
Administration of the TOPI to 3 large undergraduate samples (N = 241, 308, 385).
Inclusion of criterion measures to assess the predictive validity of personal intelligence.

Main Results:

The Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI) demonstrated that personal intelligence is measurable.
Findings suggest personal intelligence may function as a unified area of mental abilities.
Personal intelligence exhibited intriguing predictive aspects in relation to psychological qualities.

Conclusions:

Personal intelligence is a measurable construct.
Evidence supports the existence of personal intelligence as a unitary mental ability.
Personal intelligence possesses significant predictive validity for psychological outcomes.