Intellect in the Big Five: Is It the Same as Intelligence?

It is late at night after a dinner party. Most guests have gone home, but two people are still at the table, arguing about whether free will exists. Neither of them will win, and neither of them minds.

A third person is putting on their coat, wondering what the point of it all is.

Does this say anything about who is smartest? Not necessarily. But it says something about personality.

In the Big Five model, the pleasure of playing with ideas is called intellect. It is one of six facets of openness to experience, and it describes how much a person enjoys abstract thinking, theories, philosophical questions and demanding reading.

What does intellect mean?

In everyday speech, "intellectual" can sound like a description of how clever someone is. In personality psychology, intellect is about something else: how much you like to think, not how well you do it.

People who score high often recognise themselves in this:

You enjoy reading things that challenge you.
You like philosophical and theoretical discussions.
Abstract ideas fascinate rather than tire you.
You often wonder why things are the way they are.
You may enjoy puzzles, riddles or arguments for their own sake.

Low intellect does not mean you are not smart. Many low scorers are highly capable, but prefer to put their energy into people, practical tasks or concrete problems rather than theory.

The key is not how intelligent you are, but how much you enjoy thinking about ideas.

Two sides of openness

Openness to experience is a broad trait. In 2007, researchers analysed facet scales from two major personality inventories and found that each of the Big Five traits can be split into two related but distinct aspects.

For openness, one aspect is about engagement with perception, fantasy, beauty and feelings. The other, which the researchers called intellect, is about engagement with abstract ideas and reasoning.

The intellect facet in our test is narrower than that aspect, but they share the same core: an appetite for ideas. That is why someone can love art and daydreaming but find philosophy dull, or the other way around.

So, is intellect related to intelligence?

Yes, but less than many people think.

A study from 2014 measured both aspects of openness and intelligence in two samples. Intellect was linked to general intelligence, and to verbal and non-verbal intelligence about equally. The more aesthetic and experiential side of openness was linked only to verbal intelligence.

There is a link, then. People who enjoy thinking tend to score somewhat higher on intelligence tests. But the link is far from perfect. You can love philosophy without being brilliant at it, and you can be very intelligent without caring much for abstract discussion.

The direction of the link is also unclear. Liking to think may make you practise thinking, and finding thinking easy may make it more enjoyable. Both explanations can be true at the same time.

Curiosity: the third pillar of academic success

What does the pleasure of ideas actually achieve? A large analysis from 2011 asked what predicts how well people do at school and university.

The researchers combined results from many earlier studies. Intelligence was the single strongest predictor of academic performance. But conscientiousness, as a sign of effort, and intellectual curiosity, measured as how much people engage with ideas in everyday life, also predicted performance independently.

Together, curiosity and effort rivalled intelligence in importance. The researchers called curiosity "the hungry mind" and argued that it should be seen as the third pillar of academic performance, alongside intelligence and effort.

From ideas to discoveries

A study from 2016 with 1,035 participants looked at what predicts creative achievement. Intellect predicted creative achievement in the sciences, while the more aesthetic side of openness predicted achievement in the arts.

The link between intellect and scientific creativity seemed to be partly explained by cognitive abilities. In other words, the pleasure of ideas and the ability to handle them often go together when it comes to real discoveries.

This is also one of the clearest distinctions between intellect and artistic interests: both are part of openness, but they point in different directions.

Intellect is not the same as education

It is easy to assume that people with high intellect have long educations, and vice versa. Some do. But a degree says more about what opportunities you have had and what choices you have made than about how much you enjoy ideas.

A carpenter can spend her evenings reading about astrophysics. A person with a doctorate can be most interested in getting the job done, and find general discussions about theory a waste of time.

Intellect is also not the same as imagination. Imagination is about inner images and fantasies, while intellect is about reasoning, concepts and arguments.

What does a high or low score mean?

High intellect

You enjoy abstract ideas, theory and discussion. You may read demanding texts for pleasure and like to understand the principles behind things. New perspectives interest you, even when they challenge what you believe.

The downside can be that you get lost in theory when something practical needs doing, or that others experience you as more interested in the discussion than in the people in it.

Low intellect

You prefer the concrete and practical. You are more interested in what works than in why it works in principle, and long theoretical discussions can feel like a detour.

This is often a strength. Low scorers are often down-to-earth, solution-oriented and good at turning plans into action.

Both descriptions are about typical tendencies, not rules that hold in every situation.

In everyday life

At work: High scorers often thrive in research, analysis, strategy and teaching. Low scorers often do well in practical, hands-on or people-oriented roles. See also career interests and personality.
When learning: High scorers often like to understand the underlying principles. Low scorers often learn best from concrete examples and practice.
In conversations: A high scorer may want to explore a question from every angle, while a low scorer wants to reach a conclusion. Both can be annoying to the other.
In leisure time: Non-fiction, podcasts, documentaries and debates are typical sources of pleasure for high scorers.

Can intellect change?

Personality is fairly stable, but not fixed. And intellectual engagement seems to respond to training.

In a study from 2012, older adults took part in a 16-week programme of reasoning training, supplemented by weekly crosswords and Sudoku. Compared with a waiting-list control group, the participants increased in openness to experience. It was one of the first studies to show that a personality trait can be changed by an intervention that is not medication.

The study measured openness as a whole, not the intellect facet in particular. But it suggests that working with ideas can make you more open to them. Some ways to start:

Read something slightly harder than what you usually read.
Join a book club, a study group or a lecture on a subject you know little about.
When you disagree with someone, try to explain their argument better than they did.
Pick one big question and read different perspectives on it.

Frequently asked questions

Does a high score on intellect mean I am intelligent?

Not necessarily. Intellect measures how much you enjoy ideas, not how good you are at solving problems. There is a link with intelligence, but it is far from perfect.

Can I be intelligent and still score low?

Yes. Many very capable people have little interest in abstract discussion and prefer practical tasks. The score reflects preferences, not ability.

Are men higher in intellect than women?

A study of personality data from 26 cultures found that men on average rated themselves somewhat higher on openness to ideas, but also that the differences between the sexes are small compared with the differences within each sex.

How is intellect measured in the Big Five test?

Our test is based on the IPIP-NEO-120, where each facet is measured with four statements. For intellect, they are about loving to read challenging material, and, scored in reverse, avoiding philosophical discussions, finding abstract ideas hard to understand and not being interested in theoretical discussions. Read the score as a sign of a pattern, not as a complete description of you.

Find out where you score

Intellect is only one of the six facets of openness to experience. You can score high on intellect and still be low on emotionality or adventurousness.

Take the Big Five test and see your whole profile, with all 30 facets.

Sources

DeYoung, C. G., Quilty, L. C. & Peterson, J. B. (2007). Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(5), 880–896.
DeYoung, C. G., Quilty, L. C., Peterson, J. B. & Gray, J. R. (2014). Openness to experience, intellect, and cognitive ability. Journal of Personality Assessment, 96(1), 46–52.
von Stumm, S., Hell, B. & Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2011). The hungry mind: Intellectual curiosity is the third pillar of academic performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(6), 574–588.
Kaufman, S. B., Quilty, L. C., Grazioplene, R. G., Hirsh, J. B., Gray, J. R., Peterson, J. B. & DeYoung, C. G. (2016). Openness to experience and intellect differentially predict creative achievement in the arts and sciences. Journal of Personality, 84(2), 248–258.
Jackson, J. J., Hill, P. L., Payne, B. R., Roberts, B. W. & Stine-Morrow, E. A. L. (2012). Can an old dog learn (and want to experience) new tricks? Cognitive training increases openness to experience in older adults. Psychology and Aging, 27(2), 286–292.
Costa, P. T., Terracciano, A. & McCrae, R. R. (2001). Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(2), 322–331.
Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78–89.