Within the field of Psychology, the personality domain has been extensively investigated and mapped. There is widespread agreement on the existence of the Big 5 factors of personality which have been found to contain and subsume most known personality traits. Whilst some researchers argue the case for the inclusion of other factors, based on extensive research across many methods and instruments, the consensus is that the Big 5 represents the fundamental structure of personality.
But what of intellectual functioning? Is there a Big 5 equivalent? This has been an interesting debate with arguments for the existence of a wide range of abilities being made in the past including the likes of abstract, verbal and numerical reasoning, critical thinking etc. The truth of the matter is that a single factor of ability can be extracted from most, if not all, ability tests. This factor is referred to as General Mental Ability or GMA, and it has a great deal of practical value. Over the years it has been conclusively proven to be amongst the best predictors of occupational and educational performance.
In the same way that each of the Big 5 personality factors are underpinned by a subset of personality traits, research suggests that GMA is determined by lower order abilities described by contemporary Gf/Gc theory. You can read more about this theory in our White Paper.
Cognitive Confidence is an intellective factor lies in the relatively uncharted territory between personality and ability. Cognitive Confidence reflects the strength of belief an individual has in their ability and appears to be distinct and structurally independent of the personality trait of Social Confidence. People who score highly on measures of Cognitive Confidence are described as decisive, certain, positive and assured whilst those who score lowly are indecisive, hesitant, unsure and doubtful. Whilst Confidence correlates with performance on tests of GMA, it appears to be separate from GMA itself.
Self Monitoring is a type of metacognition which involves reflecting on one's thoughts, feelings, judgements and decisions, assessing their accuracy and validity. This kind of introspection is vital for making good decisions - How sure am I that I'm right? Is that really the correct answer? It indicates a person's awareness of the accuracy of the answers they give to cognitive ability test questions, and reveals the existence of stable patterns of either overconfidence and underconfidence bias in the way people typically judge their abilities.
