The hungry mind: Intellectual curiosity is the third pillar of academic performance

Sophie von Stumm; Benedikt Hell; Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

doi:10.1177/1745691611421204

The hungry mind: Intellectual curiosity is the third pillar of academic performance

Sophie von Stumm^*, Benedikt Hell, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

^*Corresponding author for this work

Education

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Over the past century, academic performance has become the gatekeeper to institutions of higher education, shaping career paths and individual life trajectories. Accordingly, much psychological research has focused on identifying predictors of academic performance, with intelligence and effort emerging as core determinants. In this article, we propose expanding on the traditional set of predictors by adding a third agency: intellectual curiosity. A series of path models based on a meta-analytically derived correlation matrix showed that (a) intelligence is the single most powerful predictor of academic performance; (b) the effects of intelligence on academic performance are not mediated by personality traits; (c) intelligence, Conscientiousness (as marker of effort), and Typical Intellectual Engagement (as marker of intellectual curiosity) are direct, correlated predictors of academic performance; and (d) the additive predictive effect of the personality traits of intellectual curiosity and effort rival that the influence of intelligence. Our results highlight that a "hungry mind" is a core determinant of individual differences in academic achievement.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	574-588
Number of pages	15
Journal	Perspectives on Psychological Science
Volume	6
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691611421204
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2011

Keywords

academic performance
conscientiousness
intellectual curiosity
intelligence
meta-analysis

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The hungry mind: Intellectual curiosity is the third pillar of academic performance

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Keywords

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