Raymond Cattell
British-American personality and intelligence researcher
British-born psychologist who used factor analysis to identify 16 source traits of personality and distinguished fluid from crystallised intelligence. His writings on eugenics and race, and a 1997 award he withdrew from, remain contested.
Why this person matters
Cattell applied factor analysis to personality and ability, producing the 16PF questionnaire and the fluid and crystallised intelligence distinction. He taught at Clark University and Harvard and was research professor at the University of Illinois until 1973. His wife Karen helped found and direct the institute that published his tests.
Main contributions
The 16PF and source traits
Using factor analysis, Cattell identified 16 source traits underlying surface behaviour and built the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire on them. The test was published by the Institute for Personality and Ability Testing, which he founded with his wife Karen in 1949.
Fluid and crystallised intelligence
Fluid intelligence is the capacity to solve new problems; crystallised intelligence is the use of accumulated knowledge and experience. He set out the theory in a 1963 paper in the Journal of Educational Psychology and developed the Culture Fair Intelligence Test.
Factor-analytic methods
He devised the scree test (1966) for judging how many factors to keep, and in 1960 founded the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology and its journal Multivariate Behavioral Research.
Context and limits
Critics William Tucker and Barry Mehler argued that Cattell's writings mixed eugenics with Beyondism, a belief system he devised. Tucker says it proposed phasing out some racial groups through birth control measures, and that its preface thanked white supremacist writers. In 1997 the American Psychological Foundation postponed a lifetime achievement medal, a review panel was appointed, and Cattell withdrew, saying critics had taken his words out of context. His biographer John Gillis argued that Tucker and Mehler misrepresented him.
In your introductory course
Personality.He appears in personality chapters for trait theory and factor analysis, and in intelligence chapters for fluid and crystallised intelligence.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 7.4. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1949
He and his wife Karen founded the Institute for Personality and Ability Testing.
- 1960
He founded the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology and its journal.
- 1963
He presented the fluid and crystallised intelligence distinction in a paper.
- 1966
He published the scree test for choosing the number of factors.
Sources
- New World Encyclopedia, Raymond CattellReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, William H. Tucker on the Cattell casePublisher. Text passages inspected.
- Inside Higher Ed, interview with William H. Tucker on The Cattell Controversy (2009)Publisher. Text passages inspected.
- Wikipedia, Raymond CattellReference work. Reference article inspected.