Fluid and crystallized intelligence
factors of general intelligence
The concepts of fluid intelligence (gf) and crystallized intelligence (gc) were introduced in 1943 by the psychologist Raymond Cattell. According to Cattell's psychometrically-based theory, general intelligence (g) is subdivided into gf and gc. Fluid intelligence is the ability to solve novel reasoning problems. It is correlated with a number of important skills such as comprehension, problem-solving, and learning. Crystallized intelligence, on the other hand, involves the ability to deduce secondary relational abstractions by applying previously learned primary relational abstractions.
History
Fluid and crystallized intelligence are constructs originally conceptualized by Raymond Cattell. The concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligence were further developed by Cattell and his former student John L. Horn. Most of the intelligence testing had mainly been focused on children and young adults. Cattell and Horn wanted to see how intelligence changed and developed when aging took place on an individual. They realized that while some memories and concepts remained, others diminished.
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