A reconsideration of testing for competence rather than for intelligence.

Barrett, Gerald V., Depinet, Robert L.·1991·American Psychologist
DOI 10.1037//0003-066x.46.10.1012

Abstract

David C. McClelland's 1973 article has deeply influenced both professional and public opinion. In it, he presented five major themes: (a) Grades in school did not predict occupational success, (b) intelligence tests and aptitude tests did not predict occupational success or other important life outcomes, (c) tests and academic performance only predicted job performance because of an underlying relationship with social status, (d) such tests were unfair to minorities, and (e) "competencies" would be better able to predict important behaviors than would more traditional tests. Despite the pervasive influence of these assertions, this review of the literature showed only limited support for these claims.

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Cited by (10)

  1. Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: a developmental taxonomy
    Moffitt, Terrie E. · 1993 · Psychological Review
  2. Identifying Competencies with Behavioral-Event Interviews
    McClelland, David C. · 1998 · Psychological Science
  3. THE PRACTICE OF COMPETENCY MODELING
    SHIPPMANN, JEFFERY S., ASH, RONALD A., BATJTSTA, MARIANGELA, CARR, LINDA, EYDE, LORRAINE D., HESKETH, BERYL, KEHOE, JERRY, PEARLMAN, KENNETH, PRIEN, ERICH P., SANCHEZ, JUAN I. · 2000 · Personnel Psychology
  4. Early Failure in the Labor Market: Childhood and Adolescent Predictors of Unemployment in the Transition to Adulthood
    Caspi, Avshalom, Wright, Bradley R. Entner, Moffitt, Terrie E., Silva, Phil A. · 1998 · American Sociological Review
  5. Age and Individual Productivity: A Literature Survey
    Skirbekk, Vegard · 2004 · Vienna Yearbook of Population Research

See all 215

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: A reconsideration of testing for competence rather than for intelligence. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1037//0003-066x.46.10.1012
The paper
Barrett, G. V., & Depinet, R. L. (1991). A reconsideration of testing for competence rather than for intelligence. American Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.46.10.1012

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.