Intelligence Test Scores and Business Success

Abstract

One hundred and two business men attending the Babson Statistical Conference at Wellesley Hills took the Bureau of Personnel Research Test VI. The correlation of the years spent in school and the test score was .44. The questions arose: Does outstanding success in business depend primarily on intelligence? To what extent may it be assumed that the brighter a man is, the farther he will go on the road toward business achievement? Do brains count for more than character and personality? Most of the men who served as subjects in this study were far above the average American in general intelligence. Within this selected group, success in business, as estimated from items on a personal history record, does not correlate with intelligence as measured by a 15-minute group test. Better criteria of success are required, as well as more severe and thorough intelligence examinations in order to measure with accuracy the share which mental alertness contributes to accomplishment in business. But the evidence in hand suggests that superiority in intelligence above a certain minimum contributes relatively less to business success than does superiority in several nonintellectual traits of personality. From Psych Bulletin 22:03:00337. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)