Cognitive ability, as measured by IQ andbackground factors such as socioeconomic status anddemographics have historically been seen as the principaldeterminants of a student s academic success. However, agrowing body of research from psychology, education,behavioral economics and neuroscience is showing thatpersonality traits also predict academic and workperformance. This change in paradigm suggests that educationsystems face a more complex challenge than traditionallyrecognized: to work not only with the different types ofintelligence possessed by students but also with theirdifferent personality traits in order to produce academicsuccess measured by cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Thispaper reviews the research findings from the differentliteratures (psychology, education, behavioral economics,and neuroscience) that relate to these questions. Severalgood reviews summarize the findings on aspects of thesequestions, but rarely address all of the questions above. Inparticular, those reviews do not shed light on how educationcan improve both cognitive and non-cognitive skills and howsuch skills promote creativity and labor market outcomes.The scientific literatures on human intelligence andpersonality are large, but our focus is on the subset ofresearch findings that relate intelligence and personalityto academic performance. Likewise, the literature oncreativity, innovation, and productivity is extensive, butour focus will be on the research findings that relateacademic performance to creativity and, ultimately, toproductivity in the workplace.
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