High IQ: Not as good for you as you thought

A post from Cognitive Daily highlights research into the importance of self-discipline in academic performance…

Duckworth and Seligman conducted a two-year study of eighth graders, combining several measures of self-discipline for a more reliable measure, and also assessing IQ, achievement test scores, grades, and several other measures of academic performance. Using this better measure of self-discipline, they found that self-discipline was a significantly better predictor of academic performance 7 months later than IQ.

Both IQ and self-discipline are correlated with GPA, but self-discipline is a much more important contributor: those with low self-discipline have substantially lower grades than those with low IQs, and high-discipline students have much better grades than high-IQ students. Even after adjusting for the student’s grades during the first marking period of the year, students with higher self-discipline still had higher grades at the end of the year. The same could not be said for IQ. Further, the study found no correlation between IQ and self-discipline – these two traits varied independently.

Interesting research, “How self-disciplined are you?”

Technorati Tags: Research, Self-discipline, Personal Leadership, Personal Development, Psychology, IQ, Intelligence

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Tagged as: Character