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Personality trait by intelligence interaction effects on grades tend to be synergistic
Kimmo Sorjonen1, Alma Sörberg Wallin2, Daniel Falkstedt3
1Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden. kimmo.sorjonen@ki.se.
BMC Psychology
|December 29, 2021
Summary
Intelligence and personality traits interact synergistically to impact academic performance, particularly high school grades. This synergy is partly explained by intelligence enhancing the reliability of measuring dependability traits.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Individual Differences
Background:
- Previous studies indicate complex interactions between personality traits and intelligence influencing academic outcomes.
- Both synergistic (amplifying) and compensatory (balancing) effects have been previously observed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interaction effects of intelligence and personality traits on academic performance.
- To examine the nature (synergistic or compensatory) of these interaction effects.
- To explore the role of measurement reliability in these interactions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97).
- Analyzed intelligence, personality traits (focusing on dependability), and academic performance (high school grades).
- Employed statistical methods to identify interaction effects.
Main Results:
- Identified significant intelligence by personality trait interaction effects on high school grades.
- These effects were predominantly synergistic, with trait-grade associations strengthening with higher intelligence.
- A positive correlation between intelligence and the reliability of dependability measures substantially contributed to the observed synergistic effects.
Conclusions:
- Intelligence and personality trait interactions significantly influence academic performance, tending towards synergistic effects.
- The reliability of personality trait measurement, potentially enhanced by intelligence, plays a role in these synergistic interactions.
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