“To g or not to g?” — Analysis of the dimensional structure of a cognitive abilities’ battery

This study aims at contributing to this debate through an analysis of the dimensional structure of a cognitive abilities’ battery aiming to evaluate, in combination, differentiated cognitive processes of increasing complexity (comprehension, reasoning, and problem solving) through items of different contents (verbal, numerical, and spatial). A Portuguese representative sample of 2546 adolescents enrolled in secondary education participated in the study. Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out and the results showed that: (1) the hierarchical model is the only presenting an acceptable fit to the data (RMSEA = .07; CFI = .96; TLI = .92), (2) the existence of specific factors cannot be neglected, and (3) contents of the subtests assume relevance to explain the levels of adolescents’ cognitive performance. These results are discussed taking into account the contribution of school experience for the development and differentiation of adolescents’ cognitive abilities.RésuméAu cours du siècle dernier, il y a eu un débat approfondi en psychologie sur la question de savoir si la structure de l’intelligence est mieux représentée par une capacité générale unique, des capacités spécifiques multiples ou une structure hiérarchique des capacités. Cette étude veut contribuer à ce débat en analysant la structure dimensionnelle d’une batterie de capacités cognitives visant à évaluer, en combinaison, des processus cognitifs diff...
Source: European Review of Applied Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research