Arbeitspapier

The role of noncognitive skills in explaining cognitive test scores

This paper examines whether noncognitive skills measured both by personality traits and economic preference parameters influence cognitive tests performance. The basic idea is that noncognitive skills might affect the effort people put into a test to obtain good results. We experimentally varied the rewards for questions in a cognitive test to measure to what extent people are sensitive to financial incentives. To distinguish increased mental effort from extra time investments we also varied the questions’ time constraints. Subjects with favorable personality traits such as high performance-motivation and an internal locus of control perform relatively well in the absence of rewards; consistent with a model in which trying as hard as you can is the best strategy. In contrast, favorable economic preference parameters (low discount rate, low risk aversion) are associated with increases in time investments when incentives are introduced, consistent with a rational economic model in which people only invest when there are monetary returns. The main conclusion is that individual behavior at cognitive tests depends on noncognitive skills.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 2429

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Borghans, Lex
Meijers, Huub
ter Weel, Bas
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(wo)
Bonn
(wann)
2006

Handle
URN
urn:nbn:de:101:1-20081202219
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:43 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Borghans, Lex
  • Meijers, Huub
  • ter Weel, Bas
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Entstanden

  • 2006

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