Approaches to learning and the acquisition of general knowledge

Four hundred and thirty students from four universities completed a well-validated general knowledge test (Irwing, Cammock, & Lynn, 2001), a learning styles questionnaire (Biggs, 1987), and a measure of the Big Five personality variables (Costa & McCrae, 1992). Correlational and regressional analysis indicated that over and above age and gender two factors were most predictive of general knowledge and accounted for around a fifth of the variance: a surface learning style and openness to experience. Results are discussed in terms of the aetiology of crystallised intelligence.