Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory

The Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory, or CHC theory, is a psychological theory of human cognitive abilities that takes its name from Raymond Cattell, John L. Horn and John Bissell Carroll. Recent advances in current theory and research on the structure of human cognitive abilities have resulted in a new empirically derived model commonly referred to as the Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory of cognitive abilities. CHC theory of cognitive abilities is an amalgamation of two similar theories about the content and structure of human cognitive abilities. The first of these two theories is Gf-Gc theory (Raymond Cattell, 1941; Horn 1965), and the second is Carroll's (1993) Three-Stratum theory. Carroll's expansion of Gf-Gc theory to CHC theory was developed in the course of a major survey of research over the past 60 or 70 years on the nature, identification, and structure of human cognitive abilities. That research involved the use of the mathematical technique known as factor analysis. In comparison to other well-known theories of intelligence and cognitive abilities, CHC theory is the most comprehensive and empirically supported psychometric theory of the structure of cognitive and academic abilities.