PERCEIVED INTELLIGENCE IN MARRIED PARTNERS

Abstract

Twenty married couples were administered the Self-rating Scale of Intelligence and the Otis intelligence test. The SRSI provided subjects with the opportunity to make intelligent attributions for self, spouse, ideal spouse as well as to provide the expected rating of self by the spouse. For husbands, two important within-person relationships were identified: perceived intelligence similarity between self and spouse and support for one's self-concept from the spouse. For wives, the most significant comparison was found between spouse-ideal spouse perceptions. Positive correlations were generally found between self-other intelligence estimates and actual intelligence for both husbands and wives.