Explorations in Human Intelligence: Some Uncharted Routes

Factor-analytic research on human intelligence has typically given little attention to what I consider the important first step in such investigations, namely, defining the variables to be put into the correlation table. I propose that such factor-analytic research should begin with systematic analyses of behavior in real-life contexts. Some of the populations could be broad occupational clusters in our culture. Sophisticated techniques of job analysis and task decomposition have already been developed for use in applied research on personnel selection, classification, and training. Through cooperative arrangements, such data sources could be incorporated into basic research on the nature of intelligence. Also relevant are studies in other cultures, as well as change in the composition of intelligence associated with altered performance demands, such as those resulting from the introduction of computers in modern society.