Search

Three studies analyzed the effect of education and social variables on intelligence (represented by one cognitive measure and at the g level) using samples from the SLATINT Project. The results indicated that intelligence, as measured by one measure (e.g., the SPM or IR test), was slightly influenced by education or the SES of schools. However, when intelligence was represented at the latent level (or g factor), the influence of social variables decreased. On the other hand, school performance was primarily influenced by cognitive differences, and secondly by the SES of schools.

In this chapter, notions of psychometric intelligence and cognitive psychology were used to analyze individual differences in the ability to execute cognitive processes. Specifically, the performance of good and poor problem solvers through the analysis of the types of errors in the SPM test were studied. Additionally, the relationship between creativity and intelligence was analyzed in middle-low and high cognitive performers.

Intelligence research has shown that human cognitive capital is associated with the development of nations. This chapter summarizes the results presented in previous chapters in order to analyze the quality of the human capital available in the Latin American region compared to the existing human capital in a developed country (in this case Spain). Additionally, challenges and future prospects are discussed.

One century of intelligence research, generally performed on samples from developed countries, has shown the existence of a general model of intelligence (or g factor). In our study, we tested this model using data from the SLATINT Project. A positive manifold of correlations was found and results from SEM modeling (Structural Equation Modeling), using the total sample and each Latin American sample, indicated that a single-factor model (or g factor) fit the data adequately, i.e., a general cognitive ability influenced performance on a set of cognitive ability measures.

As part of the project, “Study of the Latin-American Intelligence” (SLATINT), this study was conducted in six Latin American cities (Rosario-Argentina, Belo Horizonte-Brazil, Santiago-Chile, Bogota-Colombia, Mexico City-Mexico and Lima-Peru) and one European city (Madrid-Spain). The goal was to verify the effect of school performance on fluid intelligence and vice versa after controlling the socioeconomic variables. Students ( N = 3724) between the ages of 14 and 15 years (51% females) that were enrolled in 66 schools from different socioeconomic levels, participated in this study. The Raven Standard Progressive Matrices test (SPM, fluid intelligence measure), the 2003 PISA test (school performance measure) and a short socioeconomic questionnaire were administered. Diverse multilevel analyses were conducted. The results were: 1) a positive relationship between PISA and SPM, although a stronger correlation was observed as aggregated ( r = .89), rather than individual scores ( r = .58) were used; 2) after controlling social variables, the PISA scores could vary up to 7.79 times due to variation in SPM scores; 3) after controlling social variables, the SPM scores could vary up to 1.4 due to variation in PISA scores; 4) the socioeconomic status of schools exerted a greater influence on PISA scores than on SPM scores; and 5) there was a variability among schools regarding school performance (35.2%) and intelligence (6.3%) which was not explained by the covariates and random effects. The impact of these results for education policies is discussed.

We examined properties of culture-level personality traits in ratings of targets (N = 5,109) aged 12 to 17 in 24 cultures. Aggregate scores were generalizable across gender, age, and relationship groups and showed convergence with culture-level scores from previous studies of self-reports and observer ratings of adults, but they were unrelated to national character stereotypes. Trait profiles also showed cross-study agreement within most cultures, eight of which had not previously been studied. Multidimensional scaling showed that Western and non-Western cultures clustered along a dimension related to Extraversion. A culture-level factor analysis replicated earlier findings of a broad Extraversion factor, but generally resembled the factor structure found in individuals. Continued analysis of aggregate personality scores is warranted.

The structure and psychometric characteristics of the NEO Personality Inventory—3 (NEO-PI-3), a more readable version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), are examined and compared with NEO-PI-R characteristics using data from college student observer ratings of 5,109 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years from 24 cultures. Replacement items in the PI-3 showed on average stronger item—total correlations and slightly improved facet reliabilities compared with the NEO-PI-R in both English- and non-English-speaking samples. NEO-PI-3 replacement items did not substantially affect scale means compared with the original scales. Analyses across and within cultures confirmed the intended factor structure of both versions when used to describe young adolescents. The authors discuss implications of these cross-cultural findings for the advancement of studies in adolescence and personality development across the lifespan.

Although large international studies have found consistent patterns of sex differences in personality traits among adults (i.e., women scoring higher on most facets), less is known about cross-cultural sex differences in adolescent personality and the role of culture and age in shaping them. The present study examines the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005) informant ratings of adolescents from 23 cultures (N = 4,850), and investigates culture and age as sources of variability in sex differences of adolescents' personality. The effect for Neuroticism (with females scoring higher than males) begins to take on its adult form around age 14. Girls score higher on Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness at all ages between 12 and 17 years. A more complex pattern emerges for Extraversion and Agreeableness, although by age 17, sex differences for these traits are highly similar to those observed in adulthood. Cross-sectional data suggest that (a) with advancing age, sex differences found in adolescents increasingly converge toward adult patterns with respect to both direction and magnitude; (b) girls display sex-typed personality traits at an earlier age than boys; and (c) the emergence of sex differences was similar across cultures. Practical implications of the present findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).