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Beyond Competencies: Associations between Personality and School Grades Are Largely Independent of Subject-Specific and General Cognitive Competencies
[journal article]
Abstract The Big Five personality traits are established predictors of school grades. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not yet well understood. Effects of personality on grades might arise because behavioral tendencies facilitate learning and increase subject-specific competencies. A... view more
The Big Five personality traits are established predictors of school grades. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not yet well understood. Effects of personality on grades might arise because behavioral tendencies facilitate learning and increase subject-specific competencies. Alternatively, personality effects on grades might be independent of cognitive competencies and reflect otherwise valued behaviors or teachers' grading practices. In the current study, we drew on large-scale data of 7th and 9th graders in Germany to explore the extent to which personality predicted grades even after accounting for competencies. Controlling for competencies and other key covariates, we cross-sectionally and longitudinally examined personality-grade associations across different school subjects, grade levels, and school types. Results indicate that the predictive power of personality is largely independent of subject-specific and general cognitive competencies. The largest effects emerged for conscientiousness. For openness, associations with grades partly overlapped with competencies, suggesting that openness may operate by fostering competencies. Overall, our results suggest that the associations between personality and grades unfold mostly independently of course mastery. This finding underlines the socioemotional value of personality in the classroom and encourages a more fine-grained view of the interplay between personality, competencies, classroom behavior, and grades.... view less
Keywords
competence; personality traits; school grade; personality; cognitive ability; school success; academic achievement
Classification
Personality Psychology
Free Keywords
Big Five; German National Education Panel Study (NEPS), Starting Cohort 3, wave 1-6, 2010-2015
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Journal
Journal of Intelligence, 10 (2022) 2
Issue topic
Special Issue: Intelligence, Competencies, and Learning
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10020026
ISSN
2079-3200
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0
FundingGefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 491156185 / Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) - Project number 491156185The publication was supported by the Leibniz Association's Open Access Publishing Fund for articles in open access journals.