The Relationship between Conscientiousness, Intellectual Ability, and Academic Performance in an Undergraduate Psychology Cohort

Abstract

This report examines the relationship between intellectual ability, conscientiousness and academic achievement. Psychology Students studying at the University of Adelaide (N=50) completed online versions of the OCEANIC (Schulze & Roberts, 2006) and Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM; Bors & Stokes, 1998). Results showed that there was a slight positive association between intellectual ability and academic performance, a slight positive association between conscientiousness and academic achievement and effectively no relationship between conscientiousness and intellectual ability. The study shows that personality traits can be promising predictors of academic achievement and thus may be useful in student development and admission systems.

Introduction

The relationships between personality traits, intellectual ability and academic performance have long been explored. These relationships were first used, in ancient times, for selecting civil servants in the Middle East, India and China to its current role as the driver of advanced economics (Poropat, 2011). Much of the research done in the past has been linked to theoretical and statistical reviews of the role of personality. One of the earliest applications of personality trait assessment was the prediction of academic performance (Poropat, 2009). This report attempts to further examine the relationship between personality traits, intellectual ability and academic performance in particular, conscientiousness and intellectual ability and their relationship with academic performance.

Intelligence is one of the most effective empirical predictors of academic performance (Poropat, 2009). Nothing has changed since the thirties when it was suggested that one of the most important factors in academic achievement is intelligence. Intelligence is the most documented variable as a predictor of cognitive performance and in past research has shown a positive association with academic success (Busato & Prins & Elshout, & Hamaker, 2000). In 2000 Busato conducted a study in which intellectual ability was compared to academic performance over three years. Intellectual ability was positively associated with academic achievement after one year and after three year, which is consistent with earlier studies. However, intelligence is not the only predictor of academic performance. In later research, Kappe and Flier (2012) suggested that conscientiousness, a personality trait that describes impulse control and self-regulation of behaviour (Ivcevic & Brackett, 2014), is the best predictor of academic achievement explaining five times as much variance in GPA (used to measure academic performance) as does intelligence. Earlier studies by Conard (2006) also showed positive bivariate correlations between conscientiousness and academic achievement. Whilst both intellectual ability and consciousness can predict academic performance, Poropat (2009) suggested that conscientiousness is largely independent of general intelligence. Chamorro-Remuzic, Furnham and Moutafi conducted a study in 2004 as a precursor to Poropat’s research in which they found a significant negative association between conscientiousness and two intelligence tests. They suggested that this was consistent with the idea that conscientiousness might partly develop as a compensation for low intellectual level and that high intelligent individuals may not need to engage in systematic, organised and dutiful study or work habits (Chamorro-Remuzic, & Furnham, & Moutafi, 2004).

The goals presented above guided this study, thus this report will further examine the relationships between intellectual ability, personality traits and academic achievement as explored above, focussing on three hypotheses: Hypothesis 1, there will be a significant positive relationship between intellectual ability and academic performance; Hypothesis 2, there will be a significant positive relationship between the personality trait conscientiousness and academic performance and; Hypothesis 3, there will be a significant negative relationship between conscientiousness and intellectual ability.

Method

Participants

The participants were 50 first-year Psychology students studying at the University of Adelaide. The participants took part in the study as part of an assessment task.

Materials

The OCEANIC (Schulze & Roberts, 2006) was employed to measure the Big Five personality traits. Intellectual ability was measured as performance on the short form of the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM; Bors & Stokes, 1998). Academic performance was operationalized as the participants’ final grade for the previous semester’s Psychology course.

Procedure

The participants were instructed to complete online versions of the OCEANIC and Advanced Progressive Matrices. They were free to perform the tasks wherever they chose, but were advised to try to complete the tasks in a quiet, distraction-free environment. The participants were instructed not to collaborate with anyone else on the tasks. There was no time limit placed upon the tasks, but it was stipulated that they had to be completed within a single test session.

Results

In Table 1, the means and standard deviations for the Big Five Personality traits (Openness, Conscientiousness. Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism), Intellectual ability (Raven’s APM), and Academic Performance are displayed.

In Table 2, the Correlation Coefficients for the variables associated with the three hypotheses are shown (Raven’s APM and Final Grade, Conscientiousness and Final Grade, Conscientiousness and Raven’s APM).

In Table 3, the r²-values for the variables associated with the three hypotheses are shown (Raven’s APM and Final Grade, Conscientiousness and Final Grade, Conscientiousness and Raven’s APM).

Table 1. Means and standard deviations for the Big Five personality traits, Intellectual Ability (Raven’s APM), and Academic Performance

Table 2. Correlation Coefficients for Raven’s APM, Conscientiousness and Final Grade.