Mark Travers
Psychologists tend to speak of personality in terms of five overarching traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
New research forthcoming in the journal Personality and Individual Differences suggests that psychologists need to dig a bit deeper to find the personality traits predictive of high achievement.
“The two factors within the five-factor model of personality most frequently associated with achievement are conscientiousness and openness,” state the authors of the research, led by Thomas Gatzka of the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). “Whereas conscientiousness encompasses numerous traits with relevance for learning success, such as achievement striving, diligence, and self-discipline, openness has been linked to academically advantageous qualities such as curiosity, independent-mindedness, and educational aptitude.”
But it’s not enough to stop there. Other research suggests that openness and conscientiousness are each composed of two sub-dimensions. For openness, the sub-dimensions are:
- Senso-aesthetic openness — the preference for sensory and perceptual exploration and immersion in art, creativity, and imagination
- Intellectual openness — the preference for intellectual stimulation, scholastic pursuits, and cognitive stimulation
For conscientiousness, the sub-components are:
- Orderliness — the preference for routines, deliberation, and detail-orientation
- Industriousness — the tendency to stay focused and to pursue goals in a determined way
It is the latter two components — intellectual openness and industriousness — that are indicative of high achievement according to Gatzka’s research. If anything, the sub-traits of senso-aesthetic openness and orderliness are associated with slightly lower levels of achievement.
“Those components of openness that are truly unique to the senso-aesthetic aspect (for example, aesthetic sensitivity and artistic inclination) seem to impede academic achievement. This is in line with the assumption that the non-academic components of openness might be detrimental to academic success,” state the researchers.
To arrive at this conclusion, Gatzka and his team administered a series of personality tests to 424 Swiss undergraduate students. The students were asked to provide their current GPA and to complete the Subjective Academic Achievement Scale where they rated their agreement with statements such as “My grades are appropriate for my effort” and “I progress adequately fast in my studies.”
They found that individuals with higher GPA’s were more likely to express intellectual openness, but not senso-aesthetic openness. They write, “There were noticeable differences between the two openness aspects. While intellectual openness correlated with GPA and subjective achievement, senso-aesthetic openness did not.”
A similar pattern was found for conscientious — industriousness correlated with GPA and subjective academic achievement but orderliness did not.
How well do these traits predict success outside of academic contexts? This is still an open question, but there is likely a good amount of carryover. There is also something to be said for the fact that 100+ years of psychological research has shown conscientiousness to be the strongest predictor of job success.
To sum up, this research provides a clear road map for those interested in improving their academic and career performance. Regardless of how naturally curious or goal-oriented you may be, acting in ways that foster your intellectual curiosity or industriousness is likely to lead to more academic and career success.
Forbes
