Art Judgment: A Measure Related to Both Personality and Intelligence?

Abstract

The link between personality (Big Five and typical intellectual engagement) and intelligence (Wonderlic and Raven scores) with a measure of art judgment was examined in a sample of 102 university students. Participants' art interests were also assessed through a self-report inventory of art experience, art activities, and particular painting style recognition. Regression analyses revealed that Openness and typical intellectual engagement were significantly and positively related to art interests, but not to art judgment scores. Personality traits accounted for 22% of the variance in art interests (whereas intelligence accounted for 4%). On the other hand, art interests were significantly related to art judgment scores (people who reported higher interests in arts tended to score significantly higher on art judgment and vice-versa). Art judgment was significantly related to both personality (low Extraversion and Conscientiousness) and intelligence (high IQ). When combined, personality and intelligence accounted for almost 25% of the variance in art judgment scores. These findings replicate recent studies on art judgment, suggesting that the measure is related to both personality and intelligence.

Who art thou? Personality predictors of artistic preferences in a large UK sample: The importance of openness

“…First and foremost, openness is both conceptually and empirically related to artistic preferences, and having an ‘artistic profile’ in general. This is consistent with a number of previous, smaller‐scale, studies, that reported modest to moderate significant correlations between openness and different measures of artistic interests (Chamorro‐Premuzic & Furnham, 2004; Furnham & Chamorro‐Premuzic, 2004; Feist & Brady, 2004; Furnham & Avison, 1997, 1998, 2001a, b; McCrae, 1987; McCrae & Costa, 1997; Rawlings, 2000; Rawlings, Twomey, Burns, & Morris, 1998b), and a more recent, larger‐scale, study showing that more open individuals display more positive aesthetic attitudes and values for arts in general (McManus & Furnham, 2006).…”

“…In addition, personality sub‐facets, notably of openness, should also be investigated in connection to art preferences. Last, but not least, the current study also examined the big five personality traits but the incremental validity of other traits, such as schizotopy (Rawlings, 2000), behavioural approach versus inhibition (Rawlings & Bastian, 2002), conservatism (Furnham & Walker, 2001a; Wilson, Ausman, & Matthews, 1973), conformity (Feist & Brady, 2004), intelligence (Chamorro‐Premuzic & Furnham, 2004; Furnham & Chamorro‐Premuzic, 2004), and, in particular, sensation‐seeking (Furnham & Avison, 1997, 2001a,b; Rawlings, Twomey, Burns, & Morris, 1998b, 2002; Zuckerman et al , 1972, 1993) should also be examined. Given that the current study explained only 17% of the variance in general artistic preferences more predictors are needed to explained a more substantial amount of variance in artistic preferences.…”

“…A wide range of studies have consistently found that more open individuals engage in more general art and visual art activities, identify more with art and have greater preference for general visual arts relative to people with lower openness several studies reported correlations in the range of .2–.4 between openness and various measures of artistic interests and preferences (Chamorro‐Premuzic & Furnham, 2004; Furnham & Chamorro‐Premuzic, 2004; Feist & Brady, 2004; Furnham & Avison, 1997; 1998; 2001a; b; McCrae, 1987; McCrae & Costa, 1997; Rawlings, 2000; Rawlings, Twomey, Burns, & Morris, 1998b). This is consistent with McCrae and Costa's (1997, p. 825) conceptualization of high openness as a core characteristic of artists: ‘As neurotics can be used as examplars of high scores on the dimension of neuroticism, so artists can be considered primer examples of individuals high in openness to experience’.…”

Workplace mavericks: How personality and risk‐taking propensity predicts maverickism

“…Openness has also been identified as a strong predictor of artistic preferences (e.g., Chamorro‐Premuzic, Reimers, Hsu, & Ahmetoglu, 2009; Furnham & Chamorro‐Premuzic, 2004) and engagement in artistic activities (e.g. Burch, Pavelis, Hemsley, & Corr, 2006; Chamorro‐Premuzic & Furnham, 2005; McManus & Furnham, 2006). As such, individuals high in openness, similar to those high in maverickism, are often characterized as being creative (e.g., McCrae, 1987; Seitz, 1983), with some researchers actually conceptualizing openness as a proxy of creativity (e.g., Chamorro‐Premuzic, 2007).…”

Perceived Self-Efficacy and Its Role in Education-Related Cognitive Performance in Latino American Elderly

“…Learning to create artwork has been correlated to higher order thinking and intricate problem solving (Hass- Cohen & Carr, 2008). Also, art education often aims to foster creativity through artistic ability, which is associated with improved information processing (Chamorro-Premuzic, & Furnham, 2005;Furnham & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2004) and sustained levels of healthy cortical (brain) thickness (Jung et al, 2009). Furthermore, previous research studies have demonstrated notable improvements in cognitive states and subsequent quality of life as a result of art education (Cohen, 2006;Kim, Kim, Lee, & Chun, 2008).…”