Full Breakdown
Intelligence and Openness Shape Social Learning: New Study Finds Higher IQ Drives Adoption of Superior Solutions
6/11/2026, 7:57:36 PM
Study Shows Intelligence Predicts Switch to Superior Solutions
In a paper published in *Personality and Individual Differences*, Tiarn Burtenshaw and colleagues report that individuals with higher intelligence are more likely to abandon a learned solution when a better alternative appears. Openness to experience also influences switching, but mainly toward equally good or poorer options. Training length further affects the tendency.
Participants and Tasks
Study 1 involved 201 first-year undergraduates at the University of Western Australia (average age 20-21) and 369 UK participants from Prolific (average age 44-45). Study 2 added 90 undergraduates (78 % women). Participants performed the Padlock task (trained vs. novel lock-opening method) and the Maze task (trained vs. new taxi route). Intelligence was assessed with four subtests (Advanced Vocabulary, Raven’s Matrices, Letter-Number Sequencing, Connections Test) and personality with the HEXACO-60.
Main Findings
Higher intelligence scores predicted a greater likelihood of switching to a novel solution when it outperformed the trained one. Openness to experience predicted switching to novel solutions of equal or lower quality. Longer training reduced switching, a pattern the authors label maintenance bias. Effects were consistent across both tasks and participant groups.
Implications for Learning and Innovation
The findings suggest that cognitive ability and personality jointly shape adoption of new behaviors. Educational programs that strengthen analytical skills may speed uptake of more efficient solutions, while organizations that foster openness could better promote incremental improvements.
Official Statements
The authors conclude that individual differences in intelligence and personality, together with experiential factors, are central to human social learning. They argue that recognizing these traits is essential when designing environments that encourage adaptive learning.
Criticism & Limitations
The authors note that the Padlock and Maze tasks are brief and lack personal relevance, limiting external validity for real-world decision-making. The samples—mainly university students and online volunteers—may not generalize to broader populations.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
No contradictory evidence appears in the sources. Gaps include the absence of field-based studies, limited demographic diversity, and a lack of longitudinal data to test whether the observed switching persists over time.
Verbatim Quotes
- “an obviously counterfeit $3 coin” — Study authors
- “Our findings demonstrate the importance of individual differences in intelligence and personality, alongside experiential factors, to human social learning,” — Tiarn Burtenshaw, lead author
- “As the study authors put it, greater familiarity with the trained solution increased “maintenance bias,” reducing social learning.” — Study authors
- “Higher openness to experience—a personality trait describing a tendency to be curious, imaginative, creative, and interested in new ideas and experiences—was also associated with the tendency to switch to new solutions, but to those that were similar in quality or worse than the solution study participants learned.” — Study authors
Future Directions
The authors propose testing the paradigm with real-world tasks, recruiting more diverse samples, and exploring how social networks influence the role of intelligence and openness in collective learning.
