Lecture 3 -personality and life outcomes

Question 1

IQ vs Personality

Answer 1

• link between IQ + outcomes -> long history
• personality -> more recent, new topic
• IQ measure more readily available, easier to measure/interpret
• IQ is more heritable (more nature)
• IQ is correlated with personality quite often

Question 2

stability of IQ vs personality

Answer 2

-IQ develops in childhood but is stable around age 12
-personality develops throughout life
-

Question 3

Education

Answer 3

• low cognitive ability (intelligence) results in high school dropout
• completing college requires high cognitive and high noncognitive ability

Question 4

Career

Answer 4

• if you have a job, both cognitive and noncognitive ability determine your wage
• low noncognitive ability reduces the likelihood of being employed

Question 5

Health

Answer 5

-people with low cognitive and/or low noncognitive ability become smokers

Question 6

crime

Answer 6

-only those scoring very low on noncognitve ability end up in jail

Question 7

The Big Five (Education: grades)

Answer 7

• both IQ and conscientiousness show high correlation with course grades
• correlation depends on level of education: highest in lower grades
• correlation also depends on grade and subject
• openness only for languages
• conscientiousness also for math

Question 8

How do psychology and economics students differ in personality?

Answer 8

-psychology students are more agreeable, neurotic and open

Question 9

Career and wages

Answer 9

• high school dropout -> noncognitive skills more important
• four-year college degree -> cogntive skills more important
• > personality matters more for your wage if you have a lower education level

Question 10

job performance

Answer 10

• intelligence is highly correlated with job performance

- conscientiouness strongest predictor of big 5

Question 11

happiness

Answer 11

• cognitive ability at age 8 doesn’t influence happiness at age 20
• social and emotional skills (extraversion , conscientiousness) influence happiness

Question 12

misconduct

Answer 12

-smoke
-drink
-substance abuse
-violence
-getting into fights
etc

Question 13

big 5 and misconduct

Answer 13

• cognitive skills and social and emotional skills matter

- the higher on cognitive skills -> less likely to ‘act out’

Question 14

big 5 and life outcomes summary

Answer 14

-conscientiousness -> success

-

Question 15

selection effects

Answer 15

-personality predicts the occurrence of several major life events

Question 16

socialization effect

Answer 16

-personality changes as the result of experiencing major life events

Question 17

selection effect marriage - extraversion

Answer 17

-more extraverted people are more likely to get married

Question 18

socialization effect marriage -extraversion

Answer 18

-extraversion decreased more for people who got married

Question 19

selection effect marriage -openness

Answer 19

-more open people are more likely to get married

Question 20

socialization effect marriage - openness

Answer 20

-once u get married -> openness declines more

Question 21

selection effect agreeableness - divorce

Answer 21

-high on agreeableness -> didn’t separate

Question 22

selection effect conscientiousness -divorce

Answer 22

-low on conscientiousness -> higher chance of getting divorced

Question 23

socialization effect

conscientiousness/agreeableness - divorce

Answer 23

-once divorced -> conscientiousness and agreeableness went up

Question 24

is there a selection effect for random effects? - example: a spouse dies

Answer 24

no, there is no selection effect

-but socialization effect still there

Question 25

data comparability

Answer 25

• researchers often use abbreviated measures
• > may underestimate the role that personality traits play in influencing important behaviors
• factors contributing to reliability:
• > use of more items
• > use of longer items
• > use of a verbal description for each response option