Why are smart people curious? Fluid intelligence, openness to experience, and interest

The experience of interest is central to intrinsic motivation for learning, so it is important to understand the nature of interest and its sources. Individual differences in fluid intelligence (Gf) predict finding things more interesting, but it is possible that this effect is merely due to the overlap of Gf with openness to experience, a strong predictor of interest across many domains. The present research measured Gf, the Big Five traits, and the interestingness of contemporary poems and visual art. Latent variable models found that Gf predicted interest in both poems and pictures, even when openness and gender were included as predictors. Moreover, Gf and openness did not interact, indicating main effects rather than joint effects. The relationship between Gf and interest thus appears robust.