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Noncognitive predictors of academic achievement and intelligence: An important role of self-confidence
Abstracts / Personality and Individual Differences 60 (2014) S24–S47
ones when working on the same cognitive tasks. The present study investigated whether the brain activation–intelligence relationship still applies when more and less intelligent individuals perform tasks that have the same level of subjective difficulty. In an fMRI-study, 58 persons divided into groups of lower (n = 28) and higher (n = 30) intelligence worked on simple and difficult inductive reasoning tasks which were adjusted to their individual level of intellectual ability. In line with expectations differences in task performance and in brain activation were only found for a subset of tasks showing the same objective difficulty, but not when comparing tasks of similar subjective difficulty. These results suggest that the subjective level of task difficulty may be responsible for individual differences in neural efficiency. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.087
Neuroticism and stimulus distance as determinants of test anxiety M. Rus-Calafell, J. Gutiérrez-Maldonado, M. Masciullo University of Barcelona, Spain The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between neuroticism and anxious reactions in people suffering from test anxiety using a virtual reality paradigm. The expected sample will be 10 students who will be assessed using the revised EPQ-RS and the TAI. The entire procedure will be carried out in a single session in the VR Lab. The student will have to study a short chapter of a single topic during thirty minutes. Then each participant will be seated in front of a computer and immerse in a virtual reality environment simulating a university exam situation, using a head mounted display. This will be a repeated measure design investigation: the participant will answer the exam questions with the professor located at three different distances from him. The main hypothesis is that high neuroticism will predict higher levels of test anxiety as well as poor performance on the exam. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.088
No secrets to academic success J. Lee The University of New South Wales, Australia The overarching goal of the study was to investigate if there is a common set of students’ attitudes and behavioral tendencies that account for academic achievement across different, especially high-performing, countries. This inquiry was examined via analysis on the PISA 2009 international dataset of five top-performing Eastern countries (Shanghai-China, South Korea, Hong Kong-China, Singapore, and Japan) and five top-performing Western countries (Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and The Netherlands) along with three superpower countries (Germany, UK, and US). The variables selected for this study include attitudes towards school, enjoyment, learning strategies, reading habits, and reading strategies. Overall, there were small to medium effect sizes when comparing the East and West, which resulted in salient differences between the East and West. More importantly, this study noted striking similarities in the countries’ ‘‘best’’ predictors of academic achievement: it was either enjoyment of reading or a metacognitive skill of text summarization. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.089
S37
Noncognitive predictors of academic achievement and intelligence: An important role of self-confidence L. Stankov The University of Western Sydney, Australia Recent evidence about the relationship between cognitive tests and psychological noncognitive variables is reviewed. Noncognitive measures can be ordered with respect to their predictive validity. Many are poor predictors of intelligence and achievement. Measures of rationality, Openness and self-concept correlate up to .35 with cognitive performance. Domain-specific self-beliefs (self-efficacy and anxiety) have correlations with appropriate achievement tests that can reach .45. The best predictors of any kind of cognitive performance are measures of confidence (frequently reported correlations of .45 and above) that can capture a major part of predictive validity of the three self-beliefs. The role of self-beliefs has attracted much interest in education but their role in predicting performance on tests of fluid intelligence is likely to be low. However, self-beliefs and confidence in particular may prove to be the most potent noncognitive influences on the development of acculturated knowledge that is captured by measures of crystallized intelligence. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.090
Not as different as we want to be: Attitudinally-consistent trait desirability leads to exaggerated associations between personality and sociopolitical attitudes S. Ludeke, Y. Weisberg, M. Reifen Tagar, C. DeYoung University of Minnesota, USA Researchers seeking to understand differences in sociopolitical attitudes in terms of associated personality traits have typically relied exclusively on self-report measures of personality. A recently-discovered mechanism of bias in self-reports highlights a particular challenge for this approach. Specifically, individuals tend to report exaggerated levels of a trait to the extent that they view that trait as desirable. In a community sample of 443 participants whose personality was also rated by three peers, we show that people with different sociopolitical attitudes tend both to overclaim different traits and to hold different views of the desirability of those traits. Further, the tendency to overclaim traits in a manner consistent with one’s sociopolitical attitudes is mediated by differences in views of trait desirability. Thus, although meaningful personality differences do exist between those with differing sociopolitical attitudes, those differences are not as large as people with opposing sociopolitical attitudes would like them to be. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.091
Openness as a moderator of emotion-appraisal and interestfascination relationships in the context of art appreciation K. Fayn, N. Tiliopoulos, P. Silvia University of Sydney, Australia The relationship between personality and aesthetic appreciation has led to valuable insights into who appreciates art and aesthetic activities. Openness to experience is the best predictor of aesthetic appreciation. However, the question of why these differences exist remains largely unanswered. Two studies, in different cultures, looked at the role of openness in emotion-appraisal and interestfascination relationships. A multilevel design was used to evaluate the moderating role of openness on within subject relationships between emotions and cognitions in response to visual and literary art. Openness moderated the relationship between interest and the
ones when working on the same cognitive tasks. The present study investigated whether the brain activation–intelligence relationship still applies when more and less intelligent individuals perform tasks that have the same level of subjective difficulty. In an fMRI-study, 58 persons divided into groups of lower (n = 28) and higher (n = 30) intelligence worked on simple and difficult inductive reasoning tasks which were adjusted to their individual level of intellectual ability. In line with expectations differences in task performance and in brain activation were only found for a subset of tasks showing the same objective difficulty, but not when comparing tasks of similar subjective difficulty. These results suggest that the subjective level of task difficulty may be responsible for individual differences in neural efficiency. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.087
Neuroticism and stimulus distance as determinants of test anxiety M. Rus-Calafell, J. Gutiérrez-Maldonado, M. Masciullo University of Barcelona, Spain The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between neuroticism and anxious reactions in people suffering from test anxiety using a virtual reality paradigm. The expected sample will be 10 students who will be assessed using the revised EPQ-RS and the TAI. The entire procedure will be carried out in a single session in the VR Lab. The student will have to study a short chapter of a single topic during thirty minutes. Then each participant will be seated in front of a computer and immerse in a virtual reality environment simulating a university exam situation, using a head mounted display. This will be a repeated measure design investigation: the participant will answer the exam questions with the professor located at three different distances from him. The main hypothesis is that high neuroticism will predict higher levels of test anxiety as well as poor performance on the exam. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.088
No secrets to academic success J. Lee The University of New South Wales, Australia The overarching goal of the study was to investigate if there is a common set of students’ attitudes and behavioral tendencies that account for academic achievement across different, especially high-performing, countries. This inquiry was examined via analysis on the PISA 2009 international dataset of five top-performing Eastern countries (Shanghai-China, South Korea, Hong Kong-China, Singapore, and Japan) and five top-performing Western countries (Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and The Netherlands) along with three superpower countries (Germany, UK, and US). The variables selected for this study include attitudes towards school, enjoyment, learning strategies, reading habits, and reading strategies. Overall, there were small to medium effect sizes when comparing the East and West, which resulted in salient differences between the East and West. More importantly, this study noted striking similarities in the countries’ ‘‘best’’ predictors of academic achievement: it was either enjoyment of reading or a metacognitive skill of text summarization. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.089
S37
Noncognitive predictors of academic achievement and intelligence: An important role of self-confidence L. Stankov The University of Western Sydney, Australia Recent evidence about the relationship between cognitive tests and psychological noncognitive variables is reviewed. Noncognitive measures can be ordered with respect to their predictive validity. Many are poor predictors of intelligence and achievement. Measures of rationality, Openness and self-concept correlate up to .35 with cognitive performance. Domain-specific self-beliefs (self-efficacy and anxiety) have correlations with appropriate achievement tests that can reach .45. The best predictors of any kind of cognitive performance are measures of confidence (frequently reported correlations of .45 and above) that can capture a major part of predictive validity of the three self-beliefs. The role of self-beliefs has attracted much interest in education but their role in predicting performance on tests of fluid intelligence is likely to be low. However, self-beliefs and confidence in particular may prove to be the most potent noncognitive influences on the development of acculturated knowledge that is captured by measures of crystallized intelligence. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.090
Not as different as we want to be: Attitudinally-consistent trait desirability leads to exaggerated associations between personality and sociopolitical attitudes S. Ludeke, Y. Weisberg, M. Reifen Tagar, C. DeYoung University of Minnesota, USA Researchers seeking to understand differences in sociopolitical attitudes in terms of associated personality traits have typically relied exclusively on self-report measures of personality. A recently-discovered mechanism of bias in self-reports highlights a particular challenge for this approach. Specifically, individuals tend to report exaggerated levels of a trait to the extent that they view that trait as desirable. In a community sample of 443 participants whose personality was also rated by three peers, we show that people with different sociopolitical attitudes tend both to overclaim different traits and to hold different views of the desirability of those traits. Further, the tendency to overclaim traits in a manner consistent with one’s sociopolitical attitudes is mediated by differences in views of trait desirability. Thus, although meaningful personality differences do exist between those with differing sociopolitical attitudes, those differences are not as large as people with opposing sociopolitical attitudes would like them to be. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.091
Openness as a moderator of emotion-appraisal and interestfascination relationships in the context of art appreciation K. Fayn, N. Tiliopoulos, P. Silvia University of Sydney, Australia The relationship between personality and aesthetic appreciation has led to valuable insights into who appreciates art and aesthetic activities. Openness to experience is the best predictor of aesthetic appreciation. However, the question of why these differences exist remains largely unanswered. Two studies, in different cultures, looked at the role of openness in emotion-appraisal and interestfascination relationships. A multilevel design was used to evaluate the moderating role of openness on within subject relationships between emotions and cognitions in response to visual and literary art. Openness moderated the relationship between interest and the