“I think I can, I think I can …”: The interrelationships among self-assessed intelligence, self-concept, self-efficacy and the personality trait intellect in university students in Scotland and New Zealand

The constructs and measures of self-assessed intelligence (SAI), the personality trait Intellect, self-efficacy and academic self-beliefs by definition appear to be distinct, but at the item level there appears to be considerable content overlap. It is possible that researchers working largely in isolation from one another have developed different construct names for the same underlying construct or trait. This article examines the overlap between these constructs in a sample of 301 university students. Structural equation modelling indicated that SAI, academic self-concept, academic self-efficacy and the personality trait Intellect all contain an underlying component of academic self-belief, but that the overlap was not as high as expected. These findings suggest that the constructs are distinct from one another and should be used independently.

[1]  C. J. Mills,et al.  Implicit theories of intelligence and self-perceptions of academically talented adolescents and children , 1996 .

[2]  Timothy C. Bates,et al.  Crystallized intelligence as a product of speed and drive for experience: the relationship of inspection time and openness to g and Gc , 2003 .

[3]  Gilles E. Gignac,et al.  Openness, intelligence, and self-report intelligence , 2004 .

[4]  P. Bentler,et al.  Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives , 1999 .

[5]  E. Skaalvik,et al.  Internal and External Frames of Reference for Academic Self-Concept , 2002 .

[6]  B. Byrne.  Validating the measurement and structure of self-concept: snapshots of past, present, and future research. , 2002, The American psychologist.

[7]  Kibeom Lee,et al.  Fluid Intelligence, Crystallized Intelligence, and the Openness/Intellect Factor , 2000 .

[8]  Eric D. Heggestad,et al.  Intelligence, personality, and interests: evidence for overlapping traits. , 1997, Psychological bulletin.

[9]  I. Deary,et al.  Goldberg’s ‘IPIP’ Big-Five factor markers: Internal consistency and concurrent validation in Scotland , 2005 .

[10]  William Strein.  Advances in Research on Academic Self-Concept: Implications for School Psychology. , 1993 .

[11]  C. Holland,et al.  The relationship between psychometric intelligence and the five-factor model of personality in a rehabilitation sample. , 1995, Journal of clinical psychology.

[12]  B. Byrne.  Measuring Self-Concept Across the Life Span: Issues and Instrumentation , 1996 .

[13]  Adrian Furnham,et al.  Personality and Intellectual Competence , 2005 .

[14]  Richard A. Walker,et al.  The Relationship among Self-Concept, Self-Efficacy, and Performance in Mathematics during Secondary School. , 2003 .

[15]  Adrian Furnham,et al.  Personality and intelligence as predictors of statistics examination grades , 2004 .

[16]  Sylvia Beyer,et al.  Gender differences in the accuracy of self-evaluations of performance , 1990 .

[17]  Raymond L. Debus,et al.  Subject-specific components of academic self-concept and self-efficacy , 1991 .

[18]  Adrian Furnham,et al.  A possible model for understanding the personality--intelligence interface. , 2004, British journal of psychology.

[19]  A. Furnham,et al.  The relationship between estimated and psychometric personality and intelligence scores , 2004 .

[20]  E. Coluccia,et al.  Gender differences in spatial orientation: A review , 2004 .

[21]  J. Hattie,et al.  HOME-ENVIRONMENT, SELF-CONCEPT, AND ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT - A CAUSAL-MODELING APPROACH , 1984 .

[22]  J. Bermúdez,et al.  Personality Psychology in Europe , 1997 .

[23]  Gilles E. Gignac.  Openness to experience, general intelligence and crystallized intelligence: A methodological extension , 2005 .