The relationship between character trait ratings and certain mental abilities

Abstract

19 character traits were selected for study, and 62 8th-grade pupils from the high school of Raleigh, North Carolina, were used as subjects. Ratings were made after eight weeks of deliberation by three judges from the faculty who had these students for at least half the school term. Other data available on each of the 62 subjects were: (1) results on the Terman Group Test of Intelligence, Form A; (2) sentence vocabulary test scores designed by Garrison after the Holley Sentence Vocabulary Test; (3) scholarship determined by averaging the fall term grades; (4) combined ratings of each pupil by all other pupils on the trait of honesty; (5) objective test data on honesty. The ratings of the three judges were found to be somewhat consistent. Positive reliable correlations were found between the various character traits and scholarship. The results from the single objective measure of honesty (Hartshorne and May, spelling) show that it does not measure the same phase of the trait that the teacher and pupil raters do. Character ratings taken separately do not show close relationship with intelligence and vocabulary ability, but this correlation is considerably higher when the total ratings are considered. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)