Working When No One Is Watching: Motivation, Test Scores, and Economic Success

Abstract

This paper provides evidence that scores on simple, low-stakes tests are associated with future economic success because the scores also reflect test-takers' personality traits associated with their level of intrinsic motivation. To establish this, I use the coding speed test that was administered without incentives to participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). I show that controlling for cognitive ability, the coding speed scores are correlated with future earnings of male NLSY participants. I provide evidence that the coding speed scores relate to intrinsic motivation. I show that the scores of the highlymotivated, though less-educated, group (potential recruits to the US military), are higher than the NLSY participants' scores. I use controlled experiments to show directly that intrinsic motivation is an important component of the unincentivized coding speed scores and that it relates to test takers' personality traits.

Non-cognitive skills and individual earnings: new evidence from PIAAC

“…Indeed, non-cognitive skills have been found to be important for performance on IQ tests due to the low stakes nature of the latter. As shown by Borghans et al (2008); Duckworth et al (2011);Gneezy and Rustichini (2000) and Segal (2012), scores of low performers on IQ tests can be improved by offering a reward. As mentioned above, some of this literature have explicitly proposed a decomposition of test scores into a cognitive and a non-cognitive component, see Borghans and Schils (2012).…”

“…Achievement tests such as PISA or PIAAC assessments are intended to provide standardized measures of individuals' cognitive skills. However, as pointed out by Borghans et al (2011) or Segal (2012, high scores in achievement tests result not only from high individual cognitive abilities but also from high non-cognitive skills such as motivation or perseverance. The low stakes nature of achievement tests puts forward non-cognitive skills, such as motivation or persistence, as an important element for performing well.…”

“…However, recent research has provided alternative measures of non-cognitive skills. First, Borghans et al (2011), Duckworth et al (2011) and Segal (2012) show that scores on low-stake achievement tests are not only driven by high cognitive skills but also by high non-cognitive skills. This observation provides an opportunity to have more detailed measures of human capital that specifically distinguish between cognitive and non-cognitive skills.…”

“…The first one is, how should one interpret scores of achievement tests? According to the conclusions of Borghans et al (2011), Duckworth et al (2011) and Segal (2012), scores on low-stakes achievement tests should not be interpreted as a measure of cognitive skills but as a broader notion of human capital that also includes noncognitive skills. The second question concerns the possibility of obtaining separate measures for each type of skill.…”

“…They show that PIAAC scores have explanatory power on earnings above and beyond years of schooling (the traditional measure of human capital). However, as emphasized in the psychology field (Wechsler 1940) and in the economics literature Segal 2012) performance on achievement tests depends not only on cognitive but also on non-cognitive skills. 3 Therefore, it is not clear until what extent the association between PIAAC scores and earnings found by Hanushek et al (2015) is driven by cognitive or non-cognitive factors.…”