CHC Theory: Comprehension-knowledge or crystallized intelligence (Gc) definition

Comprehension-Knowledge (Gc):  Depth and breadth of knowledge and skills that are valued by one’s culture. Every culture values certain skills and knowledge over others.  Gc reflects the degree to which a person has learned practically useful knowledge and mastered valued skills. Thus, by definition it is impossible to measure Gc independent of culture. Gc is theoretically broader than what is measured by any existing cognitive battery.

• General Verbal Information (K0). Breadth and depth of knowledge that one’s culture deems essential, practical, or otherwise worthwhile for everyone to know.

• Language Development (LD). General understanding of spoken language at the level of words, idioms, and sentences. In the same way that Induction is at the core of Gf, Language Development is at the core of Gc. Although listed as a distinct narrow ability in Carroll’s model, his description of his analyses make it clear that he meant Language Development as an intermediate category between Gc and more specific language-related abilities such as Lexical Knowledge, Grammatical Sensitivity, and Listening Ability. Language development It appears to be a label for all language abilities working together in concert.

• Lexical Knowledge (VL). Knowledge of the definitions of words and the concepts that underlie them. Whereas Language Development is more about understanding words in context, Lexical Knowledge is more about understanding the definitions of words in isolation.

• Listening Ability (LS). Ability to understand speech.  Tests of listening ability typically have simple vocabulary but increasingly complex syntax or increasingly long speech samples to listen to.

• Communication Ability (CM). Ability to use speech to communicate one’s thoughts clearly. This ability is comparable to Listening Ability except that it is productive (expressive) rather than receptive.

• Grammatical Sensitivity (MY). Awareness of the formal rules of grammar and morphology of words in speech. This factor is distinguished from English Usage in that it is manifest in oral language instead of written language and that it measures more the awareness of grammar rules rather than correct usage.

The above definitions were abstracted from Schneider and McGrew's (2012) contemporary CHC theory chapter in the form of a special CHC v2.0 publication. See the chapter for more indepth information regarding this ability domain and contemporary CHC theory.

Prior definitions in this series can be found here.

Thanks to Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman for permission to to use the above graphic depiction of this CHC ability. These CHC icons are part of Dr. Kaufman's book, Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined, and are the creative work of George Doutsiopoulos.

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