Table 4 shows the correlations between cognitive measures. The numbers
above the diagonal are the sample sizes from which these correlations were computed
(the number of surveys that included both measures). For example,
152 respondents reported both SAT and ACT scores, and their correlation was 0.77.
As expected, all measures correlate positively and significantly with one another.
The moderate correlations suggest that all five tests likely reflect common factors,
but may also measure distinct characteristics, as they purport to. I have proposed
that the CRT measures “cognitive reflection”—the ability or disposition to resist
reporting the response that first comes to mind. The need for cognition scale
(NFC) is advanced as a measure of someone’s “tendency to engage in and enjoy
thinking” (Cacioppo and Petty, 1982), but relies on self-reports rather than observed
behavior. The Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT) is intended to measure a
person’s general cognitive ability, and the ACT and SAT are described as measures
of academic “achievement.”
Although the various tests are intended to measure conceptually distinguishable
traits, there are many likely sources of shared variance. For example, though
the CRT is intended to measure cognitive reflection, performance is surely aided by
reading comprehension and mathematical skills (which the ACT and SAT also
measure). Similarly, though NFC and intelligence are distinguishable, the list of
ways in which those with high NFC differ from those with low NFC (see Cacioppi
et al., 1996) sounds very much like the list one would create if people were sorted
on any measure of cognitive ability. Namely, those with higher NFC were found to
do better on arithmetic problems, anagrams, trivia tests and college coursework, to
be more knowledgeable, more influenced by the quality of an argument, to recall
more of the information to which they are exposed, to generate more “task relevant
thoughts” and to engage in greater “information-processing activity.”
The empirical and conceptual overlap between these tests suggests that they
would all predict time and risk preferences and raises the question of their relative