Search Results

Title: Spurious Correlations in Research on Ability Tilt
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Sorjonen, Kimmo
Nilsonne, Gustav
Ingre, Michael
Melin, Bo
Spurious Correlations in Research on Ability Tilt
Personality and Individual Differences 185 (February 2022): 111268.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886921006474
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Cognitive Ability

Ability tilt refers to a within-individual difference between two abilities (X-Y), e.g. differences between tech and verbal or verbal and math abilities. Studies have found associations between ability tilts and their constituent abilities (X or Y). Here we show that such associations may be spurious due to the non-independence of the two measures. Using data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97), we find that associations between ability and ability tilt may simply be due to more positive associations between two measures of the same or similar abilities compared to two measures of different or dissimilar abilities. This finding calls into question theoretical interpretations that have proposed that ability tilt correlations are due to differential investment of time and effort in one ability at the expense of the other ability.
Bibliography Citation
Sorjonen, Kimmo, Gustav Nilsonne, Michael Ingre and Bo Melin. "Spurious Correlations in Research on Ability Tilt." Personality and Individual Differences 185 (February 2022): 111268.