{
  "id": 11764009,
  "title": "Conscientiousness outshines cognitive ability in predicting leadership among West Point cadets",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/03/conscientiousness-outshines-cognitive-ability-in-predicting",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-03T20:00:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/conscientiousness-outshines-cognitive-ability-in-predicting-leadership-among-wes/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "A recent study published in Military Psychology synthesized decades of data on United States Military Academy cadets to analyze how various admission criteria relate to later academic, physical, and leadership performance. The research, conducted by Benjamin J. Elliott and Nathan R. Kuncel from the University of Minnesota, aimed to understand the predictive power of different cognitive and non-cognitive variables in the context of cadet success. By performing a meta-analysis of 15 published and unpublished sources, the researchers pooled data from 21 independent samples, including a large sample of 29,102 cadets from West Point graduating classes between 1949 and 2022. The findings suggest that personality traits such as conscientiousness, which involves impulse control, goal-directed behavior, and a tendency to follow established rules, carry the most weight in predicting leadership potential among West Point cadets. This conclusion underscores the importance of assessing non-cognitive traits alongside cognitive abilities and physical fitness in the academy's admissions process.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}