Are personality traits related to intelligence? This question is addressed in an in-depth examination of the correlations between, and factor structure of, measured intelligence and personality scales chosen to measure the dimensions of Openness and need for Achievement. Participants (203 adult men and 201 adult women) completed four scales of a timed, group administered, intelligence test, 10 personality scales, and a creativity measure. After principal components analysis with direct oblimin rotation, the two personality factors, Openness and Achievement, were found to have small to moderate positive correlations with an intelligence factor (which included the creativity scale), suggesting that intelligence is related to these personality trait dimensions.
Is intelligence related to personality? Historically this question has been addressed by researchers typically using one of three different methods. One method has included examining the zero-order correlations between measured intelligence and omnibus personality (and psychopathology) measures (Baron, 1984, Boyle, 1993, Brebner and Stough, 1995, Cooper, 1974, Eysenck, 1970, Eysenck, 1993, Eysenck, 1994, Gormly and Gormly, 1986, Harris et al., 1998, Harris et al., 1999, Jensen, 1973, Ley et al., 1966, Lynn et al., 1989, Nobo and Evans, 1986, Ozer, 1987, Paisley, 1983, Rawlings and Skok, 1993, Robinson, 1982, Robinson, 1985, Saklofske and Kostura, 1990, Samuel, 1980 and Zeidner, 1995). A second means of examining the personality and intelligence relationship has been to begin with the premise that intelligence is a personality dimension and then to construct self-report scales which measure intellect or an intellectual personality trait (Ackerman, 1994, Ackerman, 1997, Cattell, 1965, Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, Goff and Ackerman, 1992, Gough, 1953, Lloyd and Barenblatt, 1984 and Mayer et al., 1989). The third method of investigating personality and intelligence starts by proposing a theory of what characteristics comprise intelligence and then attempts to link these intelligence characteristics with personality dimensions (Baron, 1984, Wechsler, 1950 and de Raad and Schouwenburg, 1996).
The present study investigates the relationship between personality and intelligence by following the third method outlined above in which a model of personality and intelligence based on a modified version of Eysenck, 1954, Eysenck, 1971, Eysenck, 1979, Eysenck, 1982, Eysenck, 1987 and Eysenck, 1992 model of intelligence is examined by focusing on a need for Achievement personality factor. In addition, this study includes a dimension of an intellectual personality factor, Openness, based on both the construct definitions of the indicator variables and on past correlational research. Using multiple indicators of both the personality factors and the intelligence dimension, it is proposed that a meaningful connection may be demonstrated between personality and intelligence.
