The impact of neuroticism on an individual's intelligence scores : a cross cultural study

• Main Author: Elmadani, K.
• Published: Nottingham Trent University 2010
• Subjects: 300
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.629181

Intelligence scales have become a commonly used method for the prediction of human performance across a variety of occupations and settings. Nevertheless, there is still debate among researchers about whether the results of these scales can be considered an accurate indicator of an individual's true capability or whether they also reflect the impact of personality traits on intelligence scores. Researchers have begun to investigate connections between neuroticism and intelligence scores, but the results of studies are somewhat conflicting and inconclusive. Moreover, it is noteworthy that few studies have considered cross-cultural differences in this relationship, and have systematically examined age and sex differences when explaining the relationship between intelligence scores and neuroticism. To replicate and extend previous work, four independent but related studies were conducted to explore the empirical relationship between neuroticism and intelligence scores, and the mediation effect of sex, age and cultural differences in this association. Study 1 investigated the psychometric properties of an English version of the Neurotic Behaviour Scale (NBS) among a student population of undergraduate students (N = 177). The NBS is a specifically-designed test by the author to measure the neuroticism trait among the Libyan population. The results confirmed the validity and reliability of using the English version of the NBS for the remaining studies in the thesis. Study 2 examined the relationship between intelligence and neuroticism scores using the Arabic version of the NBS and the Wechsler -Bellevue Intelligence Scale (WBIS) among a sample of Libyan students (N = 75). The findings revealed that while differences between the intelligence scores of the levels of neuroticism scores were not statistically significant, the scaled scores of the high-neuroticism group on the WBIS subtests were more scattered than other groups, and the differences were clinically significant on the Arithmetic, Information and Digit Symbol subtests. In Study 3, the English version of the NBS and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III) were administered to 77 British students, ages between 16 to 26 years. The main finding of this study was that the effect of the high level of neuroticism on an individual’s performance on the Performance scale of the WAIS-III was higher than its effect on the Verbal scale. Finally, Study 4 provided an aggregated analysis of the data from Studies 2 and 3 to systematically compare the effect of cultural differences in explaining the relationship between neuroticism and intelligence scores (alongside age and sex differences). The results revealed that while sex and age differences in students’ neuroticism scores were similar across Libyan and British samples, there were differences in the relationship between neuroticism and intelligence scores across the two cultures. Findings are evaluated in light of recent empirical and theoretical developments relating to neuroticism and intelligence.