Separating narrow and general variances in intelligence-personality associations

Recently, intelligence-personality associations (IPA) were found to be distorted due to failure to separate general and narrow variances of cognitive ability (Reeve, Meyer, & Bonaccio, 2006). In the present study, 248 students completed the NEO-FFI and a battery of nine intelligence tests, which comprised factors of general, abstract-fluid, verbal-crystallized and visuo-spatial intelligence. Average correlations were computed between personality trait scores and sets of ability scales without explicitly separating general from narrow variances of cognitive ability. Using factor analysis and regression residuals, mean correlations were computed for narrow intelligence factors and trait measures. Comparisons of the coefficients partially confirmed Reeve et al.’s (2006) findings; explanations and methodological implications for future research on IPA are discussed.