Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

 FLUID AND CRYSTALLIZED INTELLIGENCE 
Some psychologists suggest that there are two different kinds 
of intelligence: fl uid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. 
 Fluid intelligence  refl ects information-processing capabili-
ties, reasoning, and memory. Fluid intelligence encompasses 
the ability to reason abstractly. If we were asked to solve an 
analogy, group a series of letters according to some criterion, 
intelligence
The capacity to under-
stand the world, think rationally, and 
use resources effectively when faced 
with challenges.
g or g -factor
The single, general factor 
for mental ability assumed to underlie 
intelligence in some early theories of 
intelligence.
fl uid intelligence
Intelligence that 
refl ects information-processing 
capabilities, reasoning, and memory.
Piloting a helicopter requires the use of both fl uid intelligence and 
crystallized intelligence. Which of the two kinds of intelligence do 
you believe is more important for such a task?
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Module 26 
What Is Intelligence? 
281
or remember a set of numbers, we would be using fl uid 
intelligence. We use fl uid intelligence when we’re trying 
to rapidly solve a puzzle (Kane & Engle, 2002; Saggino 
Perfetti, & Spitoni, 2006; Di Fabio & Palazzeschi, 2009).

In contrast,

 crystallized intelligence 
is the accumula-
tion of information, skills, and strategies that people have 
learned through experience and that they can apply in 
problem-solving situations. It refl ects our ability to call up 
information from long-term memory. We would be likely 
to rely on crystallized intelligence, for instance, if we were 
asked to participate in a discussion about the solution to 
the causes of poverty, a task that allows us to draw on our 
own past experiences and knowledge of the world. In 
contrast to fl uid intelligence, which refl ects a more general 
kind of intelligence, crystallized intelligence is more a 
refl ection of the culture in which a person is raised. The 
differences between fl uid intelligence and crystallized 
intelligence become especially evident in late adulthood, when people show declines 
in fl uid, but not crystallized, intelligence (Aartsen, Martin, & Zimprich, 2002; Bueh-
ner, Krumm, & Ziegler, 2006; Tranter & Koutstaal, 2008).