Guilford Publishing has made available for download, or online viewing, one chapter from the new Flanagan and Harrison "Contemporary Intellectual Assessment" (CIA2) book.
The chapter (Impact of Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory on Test Development and Interpretaton ofCognitive and Academic Abilities) is by Alfonson,Flanagan and Radwan. Click on the chapter title and you should be taken directly to the chapter.
Intelligent Insights on Intelligence Theories and Tests
I was just browsing (have not yet read) over this and my attention was called to the different intelligence scales and the effect of CHC theory.
ReplyDeleteAn area of discussion: Under the DAS, it says "no obvious impact." Perhaps intuitively, one can say that Dr. Eliot had much of the essence of CHC without using simiarly named constructs. Indeed, one could see the relationship of verbal to Gc, nonverbal reasoning to Gf, and spatial to Gv. In the diagnostic subtests (having them as not computed in the core I think showed him to be years ahead of his time) were present as well (indicators of Gs, Glr, and Gsm.)
We can see that CHC does not have an obvious impact, but then are there concerns with the development of WISC-IV? In the manual, they credit CHC, yet refuse to use any of the simiarly named constructs. Fine. However, let me share the following concerns:
-Lumping BD, PC, and MR in the same factor construct, although the tasks have only tangental similarities.
-Working memory-As of right now, digits forward (unless a new name comes in) is not working memory (and is a different process anyway even if we rename the construct such.) We call digits forward and backward "working memory" even though there are clearly two separate processes at work. Even letter number sequencing is not always a measure of working memory-it can be a greater reflection of memory span.
I see where there are more CHC constructs laden within the instrument, although find it a paradox that the instrument that seems to be lesser admittedly related to CHC theory (DAS) seems to be closer to the mark, despite its inception thirteen years prior to WISC-IV!!!
Then again, perhaps I should read the whole chapter before making snap judgments-it wouldn't be the first time I was so humbled...
John. Your point regarding the DAS is good. When I classified all the tests in the major intelligence batteries as per CHC theory in my 1997 CIA chapter, I concluded by saying that the DAS was, after the WJ-R, the most comprehensive battery as per Gf-Gc theory at the time. Although the impact may not have been direct or explicit, clearly the research base and theoretical foundations used in the development of the DAS came from the psychometric tradition from which Gf-Gc/CHC evolved.
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