Abstract
The construct validity of group factor models of personality, which are typically derived from factor analysis of questionnaire items, relies on the ability of each factor to predict meaningful and differentiated real-world outcomes. In a sample of 481 participants, we used the Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS) personality questionnaire, two laboratory-measured reaction time (RT) tasks, and a short-form test of cognitive ability (ICAR-16) to test the hypothesis that the Intellect and Openness aspects of Big Five Openness to Experience differentially correlate with reaction time moments. We found that higher scores on the Intellect aspect significantly correlate with faster and less variable response times, while no such association is observed for the Openness aspect. Further, we found that this advantage lies solely in the decisional, but not perceptual, stage of information processing; no other Big Five aspect showed a similar pattern of results. In sum, these findings represent the largest and most comprehensive study to date on personality factors and reaction time, and the first to demonstrate a mechanistic validation of BFAS Intellect through a differential pattern of associations with RT and Big Five personality aspects.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 30 |
Journal | Journal of Intelligence |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This project was funded by a University of Minnesota OVPR Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry and Scholarship (GIA).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
Keywords
- Big Five Aspect Scale
- additive factors
- cognitive ability
- g
- personality
- reaction time
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article