The Role of Need for Cognition and Its Interaction with Fluid Intelligence in the Prediction of School Grades in Primary School Children

Hufer-Thamm, Anke; Bergold, Sebastian; Steinmayr, Ricarda

doi:10.3390/jintelligence13080094

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The Role of Need for Cognition and Its Interaction with Fluid Intelligence in the Prediction of School Grades in Primary School Children

by

Anke Hufer-Thamm

^1,*,

Sebastian Bergold

²

and

Ricarda Steinmayr

^1,*

¹

Department of Psychology, TU Dortmund University, Emil-Figge-Str. 50, 44227 Dortmund, Germany

²

Department of Educational Psychology, University of Rostock, August-Bebel-Str. 28, 18051 Rostock, Germany

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

J. Intell. 2025, 13(8), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13080094

Submission received: 30 April 2025 / Revised: 23 June 2025 / Accepted: 18 July 2025 / Published: 28 July 2025

(This article belongs to the Section Studies on Cognitive Processes)

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Abstract

Fluid intelligence and need for cognition are relevant predictors of school grades and might also interact in the prediction of grades. We examined the independent predictive values of fluid intelligence and need for cognition as well as their interaction for math and German grades and changes therein in a sample of 565 German primary school children (298 girls, 261 boys, 6 with no gender specified; M_age = 8.40, SD = 0.59). Parental education was considered a control variable. Cross-sectional analyses showed that both intelligence and need for cognition were uniquely related to grades. However, in the latent change score analyses, fluid intelligence, but not need for cognition, was related to change in math grades, but not in German grades, and only when parental education was not considered as a control variable. We found no interaction effects between fluid intelligence and need for cognition. The findings imply that the need for cognition might not play a comparably relevant role for school grades in primary school as it has been shown in previous studies focusing on secondary or tertiary education.

Keywords: need for cognition; fluid intelligence; academic achievement; primary school

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MDPI and ACS Style

Hufer-Thamm, A.; Bergold, S.; Steinmayr, R. The Role of Need for Cognition and Its Interaction with Fluid Intelligence in the Prediction of School Grades in Primary School Children. J. Intell. 2025, 13, 94. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13080094

AMA Style

Hufer-Thamm A, Bergold S, Steinmayr R. The Role of Need for Cognition and Its Interaction with Fluid Intelligence in the Prediction of School Grades in Primary School Children. Journal of Intelligence. 2025; 13(8):94. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13080094

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hufer-Thamm, Anke, Sebastian Bergold, and Ricarda Steinmayr. 2025. "The Role of Need for Cognition and Its Interaction with Fluid Intelligence in the Prediction of School Grades in Primary School Children" Journal of Intelligence 13, no. 8: 94. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13080094

APA Style

Hufer-Thamm, A., Bergold, S., & Steinmayr, R. (2025). The Role of Need for Cognition and Its Interaction with Fluid Intelligence in the Prediction of School Grades in Primary School Children. Journal of Intelligence, 13(8), 94. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13080094

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The Role of Need for Cognition and Its Interaction with Fluid Intelligence in the Prediction of School Grades in Primary School Children

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