Intelligence : Its Structure, Growth and Action
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
INTELLIGENCE : ITS STRUCTURE, GROWTH AND ACTION Raymond B. CATTELL Cattell Institute, Hawaii 1987 NORTH-HOLLAND AMSTERDAM . NEW YORK ' OXFORD . TOKYO @ ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS B.V., 1987 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any way, form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN : 0 444 87922 6 Publishers: ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS B.V. P.O.Box 1991 1000 BZ Amsterdam The Netherlands Sole distributors for the U.S.A. and Canada: ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. 52 Vanderbilt Avenue New York, N.Y. 10017 U.S.A. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cattell, Raymond B. (Raymond Bernard), 1905- Intelligence: its structure, growth, and action. (Advances in psychology ; 35) Rev. ed. of: Abilities: their structure, growth, and action. 1971. Bibliography: p. Includes indexes. 1. Intellect. 2. Ability. I. Cattell, Raymond B. (Raymond Bernard), 1905- . Abilities: .their struc- ture, growth, and action. 11. Title. 111. Series: Advances in psychology (Amsterdam, Netherlands) ; 35. BF431.C345 1986 153.9 86-16606 ISBN 0-444-87922-6 (U.S.) PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS FOREWORD The nature and measurement of man’s abilities as a central pre- occupation of psychology had its day in the closing years of the last century and in the early decades of the present one. Unfortunately, the enterprise faltered, and interest declined as other aspects of psychology became more fashionable. Perhaps it is not entirely fair to say that interest in abilities went out of style but rather that the field stagnated, suffering from a paucity of new ideas and characterized by the persis- tence of out-moded concepts. Such a state feeds upon itself, for able psychologists are attracted elsewhere, leaving the arena to those willing to accept and live within parameters set by the past. However, times as well as fashions change. The events of the 1960s have radically modified the nature and direction of society, and with these changes have come corresponding alterations in the interests of behavioral scientists. One such change has been a recognition that a civilization has a duty to consider its human resources and to make the most of them, not only for the sake of the civilization itself but also for the benefit of the individuals and groups that comprise it. Modern society, taking its text from the Bible, is becoming increasingly “mindful of man” and looking for answers helpful in implementing its new programs. One resulting interest is in human abilities, as the reactions catalyzed by Arthur Jensen’s article in the Harvard Educational Review attest. The 1969 meeting at the University of Illinois considering the revision of contemporary intelligence concepts is reminiscent of a similar meeting held nearly fifty years earlier at Indiana University. The circle appears to be closing. The last quarter of the twentieth century may well see the study of human abilities regain both the prominence and the quality that characterized it in the first quarter of the century. And Raymond Cattell’s present volume is a giant step in that direction. A new book by Professor Cattell is a major publishing event because his works are invariably stimulating, unorthodox, and controversial ; one always senses a thrust into the future. Intelligence: Its Structure, Growth and Action is no exception. Cattell brings impeccable credentials of training, experience, and personal research to the task of writing a v vi Foreword definitive book on human abilities. Actually the volume deals almost entirely with intelligence, allotting relatively little space to motor and perceptual abilities or to occupational ability patterns. Professor Cattell ignores side issues that would distract the reader from a plan to give coherence and unity to the overall field of abilities. Many readers who know the Cattell of recent years as a psychologist concerned primarily with personality and motivation may wonder why he has selected the present topic. Yet Cattell’s pioneering work was in the field of intelligence, and it was he who developed and introduced culture-fair intelligence tests. Numerous research articles on intelligence and related topics, various intelligence scales, and such provocative concepts as fluid and crystallized intelligence attest to his eminent quali- fications and interest in the field. As a behavioral scientist Cattell contends that an understanding of the structure of intelligence must come mainly through the study and analysis of behavior, accomplished with cross reference to evidence from other cognate disciplines bearing upon the nature of man and his activities. His approach is holistic in that he demands the destruction of the artificial barriers erected by such restrictive categorizations as motiva- tion, personality, and intelligence. The fourteen chapters of the book take the reader from psychometric beginnings through discussion on the nature of abilities and their exemplifications. Chapters dealing with heredity and environment and with intelligence and society speak directly to those concerned with the worlds of today and tomorrow. Of special theoretical interest is the discussion of the triadic theory of abilities, particularly in terms of developmental relationships. Through- out the book, his references to his own work, stretching over forty highly productive years, illuminate the points he makes from direct personal experience. Few scholars can draw upon such a prodigious personal backdrop of research and writing - a backdrop consisting of some thirty books and over three hundred articles. Intelligence is a book to be read with profit by the untrained psycho- logist as well as by specialists in other fields relating to the nature of man and to programs designed to further his welfare. Research workers interested in intelligence and its social implications will find it of particular interest. This volume will not answer all possible questions about human abilities and their potential role in social planning. Not everyone will agree with the author’s formulations and conclusions. Yet Intelligence is unmistakably a milestone in a chaotic field, and, despite the highly technical nature of much of the subject matter, an imaginative Foreword vii contribution which will stimulate both antagonist and supporter to pursue the crucial task at hand. John E. Horrocks PREFACE This revised version of my work on Abilities, Their Structure, Growth and Action written in 1971 will be found to have essentially the same basis, but brought up to date by the events of recent years. In this work I have been aided by discussions with Dr. Arthur McKenna, whose practical experience in the field of physiology and anatomy of abilities brings a new emphasis to the present book. The main happenings in those years have been the extension of ability study to more qualitative observations, as in those by the followers of Piaget, and a consolidation of the findings about the distinction of fluid and crystallized intelligence, a good deal through the work of Vaughn, Horn and McArdle. In addition especially through the work of Nesselroade, Horn, Baltes and others at the Max Planck Institute we have attained a much more precise knowledge about the life curves of intelligence and their causes. In recent years my book on the inheritance of personality and ability appeared, which has added appreciably to our understanding of ability genetics. All in all, therefore, we feel that this book appears at a timely moment for the use of graduate students in particular, but of students and practitioners of all kinds. ix TABLES AND FIGURES Chapter One None Chapter Two Table 2.1. The recognition of unitary surface traits by a correla- tion matrix ...................... 15 Table 2.2. Factor structure derived from experimentally given correlations ...................... 17 Fig. 2.1. Plots showing how the variance on variables can be assigned a factor composition, by source trait coordinates ...................... 18 Table 2.3. Correlations among diverse abilities arranged in a hierarchy. ....................... 23 Chapter Three Table 3.1. A tentative list of empirically based primary ability concepts ........................ 32 Fig. 3.1. Operations in spatial and visualization abilities. ... 40 Fig. 3.2. Operations for inductive reasoning and word fluency primaries. ....................... 44 Fig. 3.3. Tests used as markers for perceptual ability and personality factors .................. 52 Fig. 3.4. Possible systematic causes of recording primaries where they do not exist. .............. 57 Chapte Four Fig. 4. Guilford's three-dimensional box for an a priori classi- fication of abilities .................. 64 xvii xviii Tables and 4gures Fig. 4.2. Some ability combinations represented in three-dimen- sional subspaces from the ADAC. ......... 65 Table 4.1. The ability dimension analysis chart (ADAC): a theoretical schema. ................... 72 Fig. 4.3. Obliteration of natural correlation in an analysis of variance experimental design. ............ 83 Chapter Five Fig. 5.1. Early development of perceptual tests ......... 88 Fig. 5.2. Examples of five culture-fair, perceptual, relation- eduction subtests of proven validity for fluid intel- ligence ......................... 91 Table 5.1. Two researches sampling the school age range showing the distinction of fluid and crystallized general intelligences .....................