Catalog of Correlations Between Personality Traits and Cognitive Abilities
Personality traits and cognitive abilities are two of the most important sets of characteristics that define human individuality. It is well known that these traits are not completely independent: correlations between them have been studied for a long time, but until now, they have not been systematically cataloged. To address this gap, American psychologists conducted a meta-analysis of thousands of studies, covering more than two million people from about fifty countries. As a result, they collected data on 3,543 pairwise relationships between 79 personality traits and 97 cognitive abilities.
In 5% of cases (193 out of 3,543 relationships), strong correlations (r > 0.3) were found, and in another 13% (449) moderate correlations (0.2 < r < 0.3) were observed. The most positive links with cognitive abilities were found among personality traits that make up the broad characteristic of “openness to experience.” The most negative correlations were found among traits related to “neuroticism.” The study showed that the relationships between personality traits and aspects of intelligence are more complex and diverse than previously thought. Taking these relationships into account is necessary for a deeper understanding of the structure of the human psyche.
How the Study Was Conducted
Human individuality is a complex subject for scientific research. People differ not only in character, intelligence, and behavior, but also in a huge number of measurable indicators. Psychologists have spent decades systematizing these indicators, aiming to create classifications that best reflect the real diversity of human personalities. This is no longer about speculative schemes like the “four temperaments” theory, but about massive datasets from numerous tests taken by many people. These data undergo complex statistical analysis to identify optimal sets of traits—”dimensions” of the human psyche. Ideally, these dimensions should be independent, or “orthogonal,” like the three dimensions of Euclidean space.
The two most important groups of such dimensions, sometimes called the “fundamental domains of the human psyche,” are personality traits and cognitive abilities. Each domain has detailed hierarchical classifications. Researchers often assume, usually implicitly, that these two domains are independent. For example, working memory capacity (a cognitive ability) should not depend on suspiciousness (a personality trait). In reality, there are correlations between traits from different domains. For a proper understanding of the human psyche, these correlations must be known and considered, and in the future, their causes should be investigated.
Over more than 100 years of research, a lot of scattered and poorly systematized data on such correlations have accumulated. These include published studies where correlations between cognitive abilities and personality traits were found incidentally, as well as raw data collected for various purposes. Psychologists Kevin C. Stanek and his advisor Deniz S. Ones from the University of Minnesota undertook an impressive effort to collect and systematize all this data, a process that took over 13 years. In addition to searching published data in English, German, Spanish, and Chinese, they sought out relevant data in dissertations and conference abstracts, and contacted hundreds of organizations and individual researchers in dozens of countries to obtain unpublished raw data. The list of contributors spans 10 pages in the supplementary materials to the article, and the list of publications used covers 43 pages. All data underwent strict selection, with questionable or methodologically incompatible data excluded.
The final database included data from 1,976 independent samples from about 50 countries, totaling more than two million people. Only correlations confirmed in at least 10 independent samples with a total of at least 1,000 people were discussed in the article. The authors aimed for their results to have “universal” significance, but this ideal was unattainable because much more data was available from WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) than from others. Therefore, the study is “Western-centric,” and associations between intelligence and personality may differ in other societies.
Key Findings and Correlations
The meta-analysis results are detailed in supplementary materials (over 300 pages of tables) and an interactive website that allows users to explore the main findings. The authors selected 79 personality traits and 97 cognitive abilities, covering different hierarchical levels. Some traits are higher-level and include lower-level aspects. For example, the high-level trait “Agreeableness” includes aspects like cooperation, non-aggressiveness, and modesty. These aspects correlate with each other, so much of their variability can be explained by the general trait of agreeableness. Similarly, different cognitive abilities positively correlate, allowing for the concept of “general intelligence” (the g factor), which sits at the top of the cognitive abilities hierarchy.
The collected data allowed the researchers to check for correlations in 3,543 “personality trait / cognitive ability” pairs. This is less than 79×97 because not every pair had enough data for meta-analysis. Strong correlations (average r > 0.3) were found in 193 pairs (5%). Another 449 pairs (13%) showed significant moderate correlations (0.2 < r < 0.3). Finally, 1,041 pairs (29%) had weak but still notable correlations (0.1 < r < 0.2).
Big Five Personality Factors
- Neuroticism: Of the five major personality factors (the “Big Five”), neuroticism and its aspects (such as anxiety, suspiciousness, depression, and emotional instability) had the most negative correlations with cognitive abilities. For example, suspiciousness negatively correlates with general intelligence, problem-solving ability, short- and long-term memory, processing speed, and some verbal abilities.
- Low Neuroticism Traits: Traits closely related to low neuroticism, such as self-esteem, stress resistance, and belief in personal control, positively correlate with many cognitive abilities.
- Agreeableness: Overall, agreeableness weakly correlates with cognitive abilities. Interestingly, “compassion” (reflecting readiness for altruism) positively correlates with many cognitive abilities, while “politeness” (adherence to social norms) negatively correlates with many abilities.
- Conscientiousness: Many aspects of conscientiousness, especially industriousness, positively correlate with both specific cognitive abilities and general intelligence. The same is true for traits reflecting individualism and self-confidence.
- Extraversion: Extraversion itself weakly correlates with cognitive abilities, but some aspects, like activity (energy), positively correlate with the g factor and many specific abilities, especially those based on learned knowledge. Sociability negatively correlates with quantitative reasoning and positively (though weakly) with verbal abilities. Positive correlations were also found between some cognitive abilities and traits like optimism and ambition (mainly with learned abilities).
- Openness to Experience: The fifth Big Five factor, openness to experience, generally positively correlates with cognitive abilities. Facets related to intellectual activity, curiosity, and idea generation correlate much more strongly with cognitive abilities than those related to fantasy, aesthetics, and seeking new experiences.
Implications and Future Research
The results show that when measuring a cognitive ability, we are also indirectly assessing a range of personality traits (and vice versa). For example, people with strong mathematical abilities tend to score higher in idea generation and lower in politeness. These findings can help clarify the links between intelligence, personality, and career success. For instance, when studying the impact of mathematical ability on professional achievement, it will be important to account for creativity and politeness.
Overall, the study demonstrates that the connections between personality traits and cognitive abilities are complex, diverse, and sometimes quite strong. The two “fundamental domains” of the human psyche are not independent; they are closely intertwined, and these interconnections must be considered in future research.