IntelligencePub Date : 2025-07-01DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101934
Gilles E. Gignac , Katja Schlegel
{"title":"Age and ability-based emotional intelligence: Evidence from the Geneva Emotional Competence Test","authors":"Gilles E. Gignac , Katja Schlegel","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101934","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101934","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>One criterion for considering emotional intelligence (EI) a true intelligence is the observation of an increase in EI across age. However, findings in this area have been mixed and predominantly based on a single measure, the MSCEIT. This study examined the relationship between age and ability-based emotional intelligence (EI) using the Geneva Emotional Competence Test (GECo) in a sample of 456 adults. Results indicated that total EI increases from early adulthood to approximately age 40 (≈ 9 EQ points), after which it plateaus and shows a modest decline in later adulthood. Notably, the emotion regulation subdimension showed no evidence of decline. Overall, these findings support the view that EI may be considered an intelligence, one that may be shaped by gains in crystallized abilities, but also potentially susceptible to later declines in fluid cognitive functioning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101934"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144524339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-06-21DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101933
Jüri Allik, Helle Pullmann
{"title":"How accurately does self-reported intelligence reflect psychometrically measured IQ?","authors":"Jüri Allik, Helle Pullmann","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101933","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101933","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Studies have demonstrated that people's self-reported intelligence (SRI) is only weakly correlated with their psychometrically measured IQ, which challenges the idea that asking someone how intelligent they are can serve as a reliable proxy for formal ability testing. Data collected from a large sample of Estonian schoolchildren aged 7 to 18 years (<em>N</em> = 4544) showed that only by around age of 10 do children's cognitive abilities develop to a level that allows them to make reasonably accurate self-assessments, as measured by the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM). We conclude that meaningful comparisons of one's intellectual abilities with those of peers are only possible once general cognitive development has reached a stage of reflective intelligence, capable of using formal operations and aligning mental concepts with reality. One way to improve the agreement between the SRI and IQ test scores is to increase the reliability of subjective ratings, either by using more items or by enhancing inter-item correlations. However, this agreement has an upper limit, as discrepancies remain between psychologists' definitions of intelligence and lay conceptions, which often conflate intelligence with self-esteem and other unrelated constructs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101933"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144329659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-06-18DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101932
Alexa K. Bushinski, Thomas S. Redick
{"title":"Individual differences in spatial navigation and working memory","authors":"Alexa K. Bushinski, Thomas S. Redick","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101932","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101932","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Spatial navigation is a complex skill that relies on many aspects of cognition. Our study aims to clarify the role of working memory in spatial navigation, and particularly, the potentially separate contributions of verbal and visuospatial working memory. We leverage individual differences to understand how working memory differs among types of navigators and the predictive utility of verbal and visuospatial working memory. Data were analyzed from <em>N</em> = 253 healthy, young adults. Participants completed multiple measures of verbal and visuospatial working memory and a spatial navigation task called Virtual Silcton. We found that better navigators may rely more on visuospatial working memory. Additionally, using a relative weights analysis, we found that visuospatial working memory accounts for a large majority of variance in spatial navigation when compared to verbal working memory. Our results suggest individual differences in working memory are domain-specific in this context of spatial navigation, with visuospatial working memory being the primary contributor.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101932"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144306984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-06-04DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101931
Joseph L. Nedelec , Curtis S. Dunkel , Dimitri van der Linden
{"title":"Heritability of metacognitive judgement of intelligence: A twin study on the Dunning-Kruger effect","authors":"Joseph L. Nedelec , Curtis S. Dunkel , Dimitri van der Linden","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101931","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101931","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Metacognition is a process that relates to thinking about thinking. Observed variation in metacognitive processes related to intelligence have often been referred to as the Dunning-Kruger effect (DKE). The DKE describes how individuals often overestimate their competence in a field where they lack expertise, while experts tend to slightly underestimate their competence. Applied to general intelligence, the DKE suggests discrepancies between self-assessed intelligence (SAI) and objective measures of intelligence. Recently, however, the methods used to assess the DKE have been subject to critique. The current study innovatively assessed the DKE by using a mechanistic and genetically informed approach. ACE decomposition models were estimated on a large sample of twins (<em>n</em> = 920; [<em>n</em><sub>MZ</sub> = 388; <em>n</em><sub>DZ</sub> = 532]) drawn from the restricted version of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Findings illustrated that about 44 % of the variance in a traditional measure of the DKE (difference scores: SAI – objective IQ) was accounted for by genetic factors in the full sample. However, the pattern differed over quartiles of objective IQ where genetic factors accounted for less of the variance in the lower quartiles (about 30 %) and increased to over 75 % of the variance in the highest quartile (remaining variance was due to nonshared environmental factors). Limitations notwithstanding (including a weak and relatively isolated DKE), the current study adds potential support for the validity of the DKE.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101931"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144205195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-05-29DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101923
Sofie Van Cauwenberghe , Stijn Schelfhout , Elisabeth Roels , Jordi Heeren , Lieve De Wachter , Wouter Duyck , Nicolas Dirix
{"title":"Validating Rules: A non-verbal free fluid intelligence test","authors":"Sofie Van Cauwenberghe , Stijn Schelfhout , Elisabeth Roels , Jordi Heeren , Lieve De Wachter , Wouter Duyck , Nicolas Dirix","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101923","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101923","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intelligence is one of the strongest predictors of academic achievement. Fluid intelligence is one part of the construct, that can be measured by deductive and inductive reasoning. We set up a validation study of a free, non-verbal fluid intelligence test (Rules) in the context of study orientation. In this study, we investigate the reliability, distribution and structural validity of Rules, consisting of 28 items. Evidence from confirmatory multidimensional item response theory models suggests structural validity of the non-verbal reasoning test. For construct validity, a cross-validation between Rules and Raven's 2 Progressive Matrices in a sample of 235 last-year secondary school students resulted in a correlation of 0.62. Furthermore, we analyzed the predictive validity of the non-verbal reasoning test, which was administered to 32,585 last-year secondary school students. A standardized mathematics and language test were administered as a proxy for academic achievement scores. The results confirmed the predictive validity of the non-verbal reasoning test for cognitive achievement, with correlations of <em>r</em> = 0.61 for mathematics and <em>r</em> = 0.41 for language. Findings support the use of Rules in psychological practice, in particular for large-scale study exploration tools and low-stakes testing as a proxy for cognition or fluid reasoning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101923"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144170440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-05-28DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101930
Michael Zakharin, Timothy C. Bates
{"title":"Higher cognitive ability linked to weaker moral foundations in UK adults","authors":"Michael Zakharin, Timothy C. Bates","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101930","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101930","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Existing research on the relationship between cognitive ability and moral foundations has yielded contradictory results. While some studies suggest that higher cognitive ability is associated with more enlightened moral intuitions, others indicate it may weaken moral foundations. To address this ambiguity, we conducted two studies (total <em>N</em> = 1320) using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire-2 (MFQ-2) with UK residents. Both Study 1 and Study 2 (preregistered) revealed negative links between cognitive ability and moral foundations. In Study 1, structural models showed negative links between general intelligence (g) and both binding (−0.24) and individualizing (−0.19) foundations. These findings replicated closely in Study 2, with similar coefficients (−0.25 and − 0.18, respectively). Higher verbal ability was specifically associated with lower purity scores. These findings suggest a negative association between cognitive ability and moral foundations, challenging existing theories relating to intelligence and moral intuitions. However, causal direction remains uncertain.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 101930"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-05-01DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101922
Gilles E. Gignac , David Ilić
{"title":"Psychometrically derived 60-question benchmarks: Substantial efficiencies and the possibility of human-AI comparisons","authors":"Gilles E. Gignac , David Ilić","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101922","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101922","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Large Language Model (LLM) benchmark evaluation tests often comprise thousands of questions. Based on psychometric principles, reliable and valid benchmark tests can likely be developed with as few as 60 items, comparable to human intelligence tests, which typically include only 15 to 60 items. The establishment of shorter benchmark tests offers numerous potential benefits, including more efficient evaluation of LLMs, the practical feasibility of creating parallel forms, and the ability to directly compare LLM performance with human capabilities. Consequently, we analysed the performance of 591 LLMs across three widely recognized benchmarks—HellaSwag, Winogrande, and GSM8K—and developed short-forms (≈ 60 questions each) using psychometric principles. The short-forms exhibited high internal consistency reliability, with coefficient omega values ranging from 0.96 for Winogrande to 0.99 for HellaSwag and GSM8K. Additionally, strong correlations between short- and long-form scores (<em>r</em> ≈ 0.90) provided evidence of concurrent validity. Finally, model size (number of parameters) was a slightly stronger predictor of overall LLM performance for the short-forms compared to the long-forms, indicating that the short forms exhibited comparable, if not slightly superior, convergent validity. It is concluded that shorter benchmarks may accelerate AI development by enabling more efficient evaluations. Additionally, research into the nature of intelligence may be facilitated by benchmark short-forms by enabling direct comparisons between AI and human performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 101922"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144115844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-05-01DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101921
Jon Butler
{"title":"Assessing the external validity of the ACT as a predictor for intelligence quotient scores","authors":"Jon Butler","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101921","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101921","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In their 2008 study, Koenig, Frey, and Detterman found a strong predictive relationship between the ACT and a measure of general intelligence derived from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). However, their proposed IQ proxy equation was estimated on the pre-1990 revision combined ACT English and Math sections, which will result in less accurate IQ estimates with newer ACT scores. The current study sought to address this limitation by proposing two revised IQ proxy equations, allowing for more accurate IQ estimates with the current iteration of the ACT. Koenig et al.'s original regression formula was also re-estimated when controlling for the effects of age in the measure of intelligence, revealing a stronger predictive relationship between the ACT and the ASVAB's general factor than previously reported. Furthermore, both revised models generalized well on unseen data, suggesting that the ACT has high external validity as an IQ proxy and can be used in research settings for this purpose. A method to correct for systematic prediction error in external regression model validation is also implemented and discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 101921"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144071104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-05-01DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101920
Valgeir Thorvaldsson , Ingmar Skoog , Boo Johansson
{"title":"Joint modeling of cognitive aging and survival: Evaluation of birth cohort differences","authors":"Valgeir Thorvaldsson , Ingmar Skoog , Boo Johansson","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101920","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101920","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examined generational differences in the associations between cognitive functioning (i.e., level and rate of change) and survival after age 70. Data were drawn from two population-based cohorts born in 1901–1907 (<em>n</em> = 1106) and 1930 (<em>n</em> = 896), each systematically sampled from the same city population and assessed on the same cognitive battery at ages 70, 75, 79, 85, 88, 90, 92, 95, 97, 99, and 100. Cognitive performance was indexed using a composite score derived from tests of spatial ability, perceptual-motor speed, and reasoning. Mortality data, obtained from the Swedish national population register, were complete for >99 % of the 1901–07 cohort and 39 % of the 1930 cohort (last update: April 2023). We fitted joint models for longitudinal cognitive change and survival, controlling for sex and education. Across both cohorts, a one SD lower cognitive level was associated with a 1.43-fold higher mortality hazard, 95 % HDI [1.34, 1.53]. Models including cohort interactions revealed stronger effects of cognitive level in the 1901–07 cohort (HR = 1.50 [1.39, 1.61]) compared to the 1930 cohort (HR = 1.26 [1.14, 1.40]). Moreover, steeper rates of cognitive decline were associated with increased mortality risk in the 1930 cohort (HR = 1.74 [1.40, 2.17]), but not in the 1901–07 cohort (HR = 1.07 [0.97, 1.77]). These findings suggest that cognitive level is a stronger mortality predictor among earlier-born cohorts, whereas rate of cognitive decline plays a larger role in later-born cohorts, highlighting cohort-specific differences in how cognitive aging informs survival probability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 101920"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144099283","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IntelligencePub Date : 2025-04-18DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2025.101919
Robert J. Sternberg
{"title":"The other half of intelligence: An obstacle-racecourse performance-based model of intelligence in action","authors":"Robert J. Sternberg","doi":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101919","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.intell.2025.101919","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intelligence in action, or as performance, is almost inevitably at a different level from intelligence as some theoretical level of competence. The article considers a metaphor of an obstacle race as illustrating how intelligence functions in everyday practice. Intelligence as performance always includes responses to the obstacles one confronts. The article opens with an introduction explaining the racetrack metaphor. The article then considers the various obstacles to the deployment of intelligence, including both primarily internal and primarily external obstacles. The article then considers three models for the relationship between intelligence as competence and intelligence as performance. Finally, the article draws some conclusions about intelligence as it acts in the everyday world.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":13862,"journal":{"name":"Intelligence","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 101919"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143848083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}