Two Personal Qualities Vital to Success

Posted on February 7, 2015

Photo: flickr

Here are two trainable personal qualities which predict success four times more than intelligence.

Being open to experience and conscientious is four times more important than intelligence in predicting academic success, a new research review finds.

People who are open to experience are more likely to be imaginative, sensitive to their feelings, intellectually curious and seekers of variety.

Conscientious people, meanwhile, are disciplined, dutiful and good at planning ahead.

Dr Arthur Poropat, the study’s author and an expert on personality and performance, thinks the current emphasis on intelligence is misplaced:

“With respect to learning, personality is more useful than intelligence for guiding both students and teachers.

In practical terms, the amount of effort students are prepared to put in, and where that effort is focused, is at least as important as whether the students are smart.

And a student with the most helpful personality will score a full grade higher than an average student in this regard.”

The review, which is published in the journal Learning and Individual Differences, included data from tens of thousands of students (Poropat, 2014).


Category(s):Career Development and Change

Source material from Spring