Are Individual Differences in Numeracy Unique from General Mental Ability? A Closer Look at a Common Measure of Numeracy
Author(s): Margaret E. Brooks, Shuang Yueh Pui
Abstract: The Numeracy Scale (Lipkus, Samsa, & Rimer, 2001) is a measure of numerical fluency that has garnered considerable attention in medical decision making. Numeracy is an individual difference with potential to have important implications for contexts such as financial decision-making, vocational assessment, and employee selection. Curiously, there is no published study of the relation between scores on the Numeracy Scale and scores on a measure of general mental ability (GMA), a critical information to establishing numeracy as its own construct, distinct from cognitive ability. The Numeracy Scale and the Wonderlic Personnel Test were administered to a sample of (N = 200) undergraduates, who also completed measures of cognitive style and personality traits. Although the Numeracy Scale is positively correlated with GMA, the size of the correlation suggests that the measures are, indeed, tapping different constructs. Results indicated that numeracy had a positive relationship with rationality, and negative relationships with extraversion and neuroticism.
Pages: 257-265
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