1997, Vol. 121, No. 2, 219-245
Copyright 1997 by the American Psychological Association, Inc,
0033-2909/97153.00
Intelligence, Personality, and Interests: Evidence for Overlapping Traits
P h i l l i p L. A c k e r m a n a n d E r i c D. H e g g e s t a d
U niversity of Minnesota, Twin Cities
The authors review the developmentof the modem paradigm for intelligenceassessmentand application and consider the differentiationbetween intelligence-as-maximal performance and intelligenceas-typical performance. They review theories of intelligence,personality,and interest as a means to establish potential overlap. Considerationof intelligence-as-typicalperformance provides a basis for evaluation of intelligence-personality and intelligence-interest relations. Evaluation of relations among personality constructs, vocational interests, and intellectual abilities provides evidence for communalityacross the domains of personality of J. L. Holland's (1959) model of vocational interests. The authors provide an extensive meta-analysisof personality-intellectual ability correlations, and a review of interest-intellectual ability associations. They identify 4 trait complexes: social, clerical/conventional, science/math, and intellectual/cultural.
I n this article, we briefly review theoretical approaches to i ntellect, personality, and interests that make contact across these s eemingly disparate domains. We also review the empirical evid ence and theoretical arguments for an approach to adult intell ect that goes beyond the traditional paradigm. The review first f ocuses on the description of the traditional paradigm for intellig ence assessment of children. We next consider the extension o f the paradigm to adult intellectual assessment. From this found ation, we review a separation of the constructs of intelligencea s-maximal performance and intelligence-as-typical perform ance. In an attempt to bridge the separation of maximal and