An investigation into the relationship between interests and intelligence

This article relates the six General Occupational Themes (GOTs) and the 23 Basic Interest Scales (BISs) yielded by the Strong Interest Inventory (SII) to age, gender, and performance on the KAIT. The sample included 936 males and females aged 16 to 65 years. MANOVAs and MANCOVAs (covarying education) were conducted, followed by univariate ANOVAs and ANCOVAs. IQ level on KAIT was significantly related to the Investigative and Realistic themes and to numerous interest scales, most notably Writing, Nature, Teaching, Mathematics, and Art. The discrepancy between fluid and crystallized intelligence on the KAIT related significantly to a few variables, but relationships were generally small in magnitude. Significant relationships with age were few; gender related significantly to most variables, consistent with previous research. These findings were interpreted in the context of previous research on the Strong, and on the integration of interests and intellect.