A controversial field of study and not always well accepted has been dedicated to establishing the intelligence level of a country and its differences with other states. The starting hypothesis for this type of study is that it is possible to extrapolate individual differences in IQ between members of different countries to the general population of those nations in question. Thus, although not without criticism, the concept of ‘national intelligence quotient’ developed by Lynn & Vanhanen has been used to study the relationships between variables such as educational level, religiosity or certain aspects related to health with the intelligence of individuals. people who make up a nation.
Something similar has happened with the psychological construct of ‘personality’. Here, studies have proliferated on the ‘Big Five’ or five great traits, named for the psychologist Lewis Goldberg (1981), and which include extroversion, kindness, openness to experience, responsibility and emotional stability.
Although the relationships between personality, IQ, and gross domestic product (as a measure of a nation’s economic success) have been analyzed at the individual level, only recently have studies been conducted using general measures at the national level. This is what Maciej Stolarski and his collaborators have done, whose results have been published this year in the scientific journal Intelligence . They took measurements of the ‘Big Five’ of 51 cultures, data of their respective general IQs and also of the corresponding gross domestic products of each country. The different statistical analyzes carried out showed that, on the one hand, extraversion and openness to experience were positively related to a higher level of intelligence. In addition, it was observed that the best predictor of a country’s economic success was its estimated population intelligence level, followed by the degree of extroversion of its inhabitants, which also explained part of the variance in gross domestic product between cultures. And finally it was seen that it is necessary to take into account the influence of certain cultural aspects such as political history, genetic factors and environmental factors because they could be modulating in a certain way the relationships found.
Although there are always criticisms of this type of study, the need to promote intelligence as much as possible does seem clear. Understanding intelligence in a broad way, it can be promoted either through access to education and training, or also by working on basic mental abilities more directly through fun cognitive training programs adapted to each personal profile. It also seems advisable, in the light of this research, to favor personal characteristics typical of the extroverted character such as sociability, optimism, joy and leadership that lead people to undertake projects, work as a team and take risks. Extraversion is usually associated with a greater development of social skills, which can influence the economy through the acquisition of better managerial and management skills in particular.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
