What are fluid and crystallized intelligence?

Introduced by psychologist Raymond Cattell in 1943, general intelligence is subdivided into fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence involves solving novel reasoning problems, while crystallized intelligence involves applying previously learned knowledge and abstractions. Cattell later created the Culture Fair Intelligence Test to measure these cognitive abilities.

What we know

• The concepts of fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence were introduced in 1943 by psychologist Raymond Cattell. [2]
• Fluid intelligence is defined as the ability to solve novel reasoning problems and is correlated with comprehension, learning, and problem-solving. [2]
• Crystallized intelligence involves deducing secondary relational abstractions by applying previously learned primary relational abstractions. [2]
• Cattell proposed that fluid intelligence is biologically and constitutionally based, whereas crystallized intelligence relies on sociocultural and experiential learning. [5]

Still open

• Scholars have subsequently concluded that constructing measures of cognitive abilities completely devoid of sociocultural and environmental influences is extremely challenging.

Where to go next

• whoWho was Raymond Cattell?
• a case in pointWhat is the Culture Fair Intelligence Test?
• how it workedHow is human intelligence generally measured?
• the bigger pictureWhat are the broader concepts of human intelligence?
• whenWhen were these intelligence concepts introduced?
• an unexpected connectionHow does culture affect intelligence testing?Although Cattell attempted to create a test completely free of cultural and environmental influences, scholars later found it very challenging to remove cultural conditioning from cognitive assessments.

Sources

• [1]fluid and crystallized intelligence (Wikidata Q1434146) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Fluid and crystallized intelligence · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Human intelligence · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Intelligence · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Cattell Culture Fair Intelligence Test · CC BY-SA 4.0