Personality level on the big five and the structure of intelligence

Abstract

Research about changes in the structure of intelligence has generally not focused on the possible role played by personality traits. However, previous findings suggest that some personality traits (especially Neuroticism) could affect the structure of intelligence. Recently, there is a renewed interest in developing links between personality and intelligence. This interest calls for a theoretical integration of ability and non-ability traits. From this standpoint, the relationships between ability and non-ability traits at the structural level should be investigated. The NEO-FFI and three cognitive tests (PMA-V, PMA-E, and PMA-R) were administered to 569 university students. Samples were divided into three groups according to personality scores. This division was conducted separately for every personality trait. Further, the g factor was extracted in every group. Results show no change in the importance of the g factor across personality level groups. This pattern is replicated for the Big-Five. Therefore, it is concluded that personality traits play no role in the changes in the structure of intelligence. Possible explanations for this lack of differences between personality level groups, and future directions are discussed.