Raymond Cattell

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Raymond Bernard Cattell (20 March 1905–2 February 1998) was a British and American psychologist known for his exploration of a wide variety of substantive areas in psychology. These areas included: the basic dimensions of personality and temperament, a range of cognitive abilities, the dynamic dimensions of motivation and emotion, the clinical dimensions of personality, patterns of group and social behavior, applications of personality research to psychotherapy and learning theory, predictors of creativity and achievement, and many scientific research methods for exploring and measuring these areas. Cattell was famously productive throughout his 92 years, authoring and co-authoring over 50 books and 500 articles, and over 30 standardized tests. He was one of the dozen most influential and eminent psychologists of the 20th century.[1]

As a psychologist, Cattell was rigorously devoted to the scientific method, and was an early proponent of using factor analytical methods instead of what he called "verbal theorizing" to explore the basic dimensions of personality, motivation, and cognitive abilities. One of the most important results of Cattell's application of factor analysis was his discovery of 16 factors underlying human personality. He called these factors "source traits" because he believed they provide the underlying source for the surface behaviors we think of as personality.[2] This theory of 16 personality factors and the instrument used to measure them are known respectively as the 16 Personality Factors and the 16PF Questionnaire.

Although Cattell is best known for identifying the dimensions of personality, he also studied basic dimensions of other domains: intelligence, motivation, and vocational interests. Cattell theorized the existence of fluid and crystallized intelligences to explain human cognitive ability, and authored the Culture Fair Intelligence Test to minimize the bias of written language and cultural background in intelligence testing.

Contents

  • Definition of the three domains of the personality sphere (the totality of factorial measurements of the personality, ability, and motivation)
  • Fluid and crystallized intelligence
  • State and trait measurement of personality
  • The Scree Test (using the curve of latent roots to judge the number of factors)
  • The Procrustes factor analysis rotation program (for testing a hypothesized factor structure)
  • The coefficient of profile similarity (taking account of shape, scatter, and level of two score profiles)
  • The Dynamic Calculus (for assessing interests and motivation)
  • P-technique factor analysis (for an occasion-by-variable matrix)
  • The Taxonome program (for ascertaining the number and contents of clusters in a data set)
  • The Basic Data Relations Box (the dimensions of experimental designs)
  • Sampling of variables, as opposed to or in conjunction with sampling of persons
  • Group syntality construct (the "personality" of a group)
  • The factoring or repeated measures on single individuals to study fluctuating personality states
  • Multiple Abstract Variance Analysis (with "specification equations" embodying genetic and environmental variables and their interactions)
  • The founding of the Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology and the journal Multivariate Behavioral Research
  • Developed the CFIT or Culture Fair Intelligence Test

Cattell has been criticized on the basis of his interests in eugenics, evolution and alternative cultures and political systems. Political critics also note that Cattell is known for laying out a mixture of Galtonian eugenics and theology called Beyondism, which he considered "a new morality from science," and that his work in this area was published in the Pioneer Fund's Mankind Quarterly and its editor, Roger Pearson, has published two of Cattell's monographs. [2]

In 1994 he was one of 52 signatories on "Mainstream Science on Intelligence," an editorial written by Linda Gottfredson and published in the Wall Street Journal, which defended the findings on race and intelligence in The Bell Curve. [3]

In 1997, Cattell, at 92, was chosen by the American Psychological Association (APA) for its "Gold Medal Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Science of Psychology." However before the medal was presented, a former student at the University of Illinois, Barry Mehler, launched a publicity campaign against Cattell [3] through his nonprofit foundation ISAR accusing Cattell of being sympathetic to racist and fascist ideas [4] and claiming that "it is unconscionable to honor this man whose work helps to dignify the most destructive political ideas of the twentieth century".[4] A blue-ribbon committee was convened by the APA to investigate the legitimacy of the charges. However, before the committee reached a decision Cattell issued an open letter to the committee saying "I abhor racism and discrimination based on race. Any other belief would be antithetical to my life’s work" and saying that "it is unfortunate that the APA announcement … has brought misguided critics' statements a great deal of publicity." [5] He refused the award, withdrawing his name from consideration. The blue ribbon committee was therefore disbanded and Cattell, in failing health, died months later.

Raymond Cattell's 20 most cited publications:[5]

  • Cattell, R. B. (1966). The Scree Test for the Number of Factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1(2), 245-276. 1585 citations
  • Cattell, R. B., Eber, H. W. & MM Tatsuoka, M. M. (1970 or 1980 Edition). Handbook for the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF). Champaign IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing. 542 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. (1978). The Scientific Use of Factor Analysis in Behavioral and Life Sciences. New York: Plenum. 452 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. (1971). Abilities: Their Structure, Growth, and Action. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 436 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. (1957). Personality and Motivation Structure and Measurement. New York: World Book. 280 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. (1965). The Scientific Analysis of Personality. London: Penguin. 216 citations
  • Cattell. R. B. (1966). Handbook of Multivariate Experimental Psychology. Chicago: Rand McNally. 203 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. & Scheier, I. H. (1961). The Meaning and Measurement of Neuroticism and Anxiety. New York: Ronald Press. 138 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. (1966). The Meaning and Strategic Use of Factor Analysis. (In Handbook of Multivariate Experimental Psychology). Chicago: Rand McNally. 190 citations
  • Horn, J. L. & Cattell, R. B. (1966). Refinement and test of the theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 57(5), 253-270. 168 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. Description and Measurement of Personality. (1946). New York: World Book. 166 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. Factor analysis. (1952). New York: Wiley. 165 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. Personality and Mood by Questionnaire. (1973). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass San Francisco. 146 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. Intelligence: Its Structure, Growth, and Action. (1987). Amsterdam: Elsevier. 145 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. (1943). The description of personality: Basic traits resolved into clusters. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1943, 38, 476-506. 96 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. (1965). A Biometrics Invited Paper. Factor Analysis: An Introduction to Essentials II. The role of factor analysis in research. Biometrics, 21, 405-435. 92 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. (1950). Personality a systematic theoretical and factual study. New York: McGraw Hill. 82 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. & Vogelmann, S. (1977). A comprehensive trial of the scree and KG criteria for determining the number of factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 12, 289-325. 94 citations
  • Cattell, R. B. & Scheier, I. H. (1963). Handbook for the IPAT Anxiety Scale Questionnaire. Champaign IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing. 70 citations
  • Hurley, J. R. & Cattell, R. B. (1963). The Procrustes program: Producing direct rotation to test a hypothesized factor structure. Behavioral Science, 7, 258-262. 69 citations

  • Tucker, W. H. (1994). The science and politics of racial research. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
  • MacDonald, Marvin J. (1998) "Psychology, Eugenics and the Case of Raymond B. Cattell". History and Philosophy of Psychology Bulletin, 10(2). A special issue of the journal reviewing the Cattell controversy.

Further information: Raymond Cattell (Books)

  1. ^ S. J. Haggbloom et al (2002), "The 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century", Review of General Psychology, 6(2), 139-152.
  2. ^ Richard Gerrig and Philip Zimbardo, Psychology and Life, 7th ed.
  3. ^ Gottfredson, Linda (December 13, 1994). Mainstream Science on Intelligence. Wall Street Journal, p A18.
  4. ^ Mehler reports that he was mentored by Jerry Hirsch, a colleague and strong critic of Cattell at the University of Illinois, where Cattell and Hirsch spent the majority of their careers. Cattell was also criticized by Rutgers professor William H. "Bill" Tucker, a friend and associate of Mehler's to whom Mehler "generously opened both his files and his home". In Tucker's book published with University of Illinois Press [1], Tucker claims that Cattell (in 1937) praised the eugenics laws of the pre-war Third Reich for promoting racial improvement.
  5. ^ According to Google Scholar

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