Which personality trait has the tightest correlation with a high IQ?
Sunday, November 5, 2023.
Openness to experience is the personality trait most strongly correlated with higher intelligence…
People who are open to experience tend to be intellectually curious, imaginative, seekers of variety, and particularly sensitive to their feelings.
So it logically follows that humans who are open to experience like trying out new things and explore new, and diffferent ideas.
Openness to experience is one of the five major aspects of personality, along with conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness and extraversion.
The study’s author, Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, explains:
“Openness to experience is the broadest personality domain of the Big Five, including a mix of traits relating to intellectual curiosity, intellectual interests, perceived intelligence, imagination, creativity, artistic and aesthetic interests, emotional and fantasy richness, and unconventionality.”
How the study was conducted
Dr. Kaufman’s team surveyed 146 humans who were asked questions about their personality and intelligence.
The results showed the strongest links between the personality trait of openness to experience and having a higher IQ.
Being open to experience is so profoundly impactful that it is linked to intelligence, even when measured almost 40 years later.
2 aspects of openness to experience are highly correlated with intelligence…
The first aspect is the allure of Intellectual Engagement.
So what’s intellectual engagement? It’s defined as the capacity to experience pleasure from abstract thinking, and the consequential pleasure of creating new approaches to challenging issues.
A recognizable feature of these humans is an intense cognitive hunger (i.e., their home is full of books because they read.. a lot!).
The second aspect of openness to experience is a highly developed ability toward Aesthetic Engagement.
You can spot these humans because of their love for drawing or other forms of self-generated art. This also includes singing, dancing, and/or playing a musical instrument.
Researchers have already nailed the fact that the most intelligent humans are particularly appreciative of breathtaking visual beauty, and inspired musical joy.
The most intelligent humans are, above all… reliably curious….
Openness to experience is one thing, but cravings of insatiable curiosity are a force multiplier, and are also strongly correlated with the smartest humans.
The highest intelligence displays a relentless “cognitive hunger,” and this sense of persistent curiosity compels humans to explore and achieve.
Be well, stay kind and curious, and Godspeed.
RESEARCH:
Kaufman, S. B. (2013). Opening up openness to experience: A four‐factor model and relations to creative achievement in the arts and sciences. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 47(4), 233–255. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.33
