A multivariate genetic analysis of correlations between intelligence and personality

Abstract

Are personality traits related to intelligence? This question is addressed by examining phenotypic and genetic correlations between scores on a test of general intelligence and self‐report responses to an omnibus personality inventory assessing 20 personality traits. The tests were completed by 92 pairs of adult monozygotic twins and 50 pairs of adult same‐sex dizygotic twins. At the phenotypic level, significant zero‐order correlations between the personality traits and full‐scale intelligence indicated that intelligence was positively correlated with the personality traits achievement, autonomy, dominance, endurance, sentience, and understanding, and negatively related to harmavoidance, order, and succorance. Multivariate genetic analyses revealed moderate to quite sizable genetic correlations between intelligence and personality, indicating that the phenotypic correlations between the 2 are largely attributable to the influence of common genetic factors.