Personality traits and lay conceptions of intelligence

This study examined the relationship between lay conceptions of intelligence, personality traits, and subjectively-assessed intelligence (SAI). 160 (118 females) British and American University students completed the NEO-FFI and a 109 item lay conceptions of intelligence inventory. In addition, they estimated their scores on a number of different abilities (e.g., vocabulary, mathematical, verbal skills). Principal Components Analyses identified three major dimensions underlying people's conceptions of the nature of intelligence, which were labelled academic IQ, social awareness and social intelligence. All personality dimensions were significantly and positively correlated with social awareness, and negatively with academic IQ. Social intelligence was significantly correlated with Extraversion, Openness, and Agreeableness (all positively), whilst academic IQ was significantly correlated with Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (all negatively). Results are discussed in terms of the theoretical conceptualization of the relationship of established personality traits with both lay conceptions and self-assessed intelligence. © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.