CHC theory tipping point passed: Inroads in mainstream intelligence research

In 2005 I unilaterally claimed that the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities had reached the "tipping point" in school psychology--it had become the consensus psychometric framework from which new intelligence tests are developed, old ones are revised, and non-CHC batteries are analyzed. Later in 2007 I again revisited my "tipping point" claim by analyzing the use of keywords in the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) general service listserv. At that time I concluded that the actual tipping point occurred (in school psychology) sometime between 2001 and 2003.

Today I decided to see if the school psychology CHC tipping point had spilled over and gained traction in more mainstream psychology. In particular, I was interested in how often the terms "CHC" or "Cattell-Horn-Carroll" were present in articles in THE premiere journal outlet for the heavy hitters in the field of intelligence research--the journal Intelligence.

So...I went to the journal's web page and used the above two terms/phrases and asked for a search of "all fields" for the journal. Below is what I found.

Prior to 2004 there was NOT ONE article in Intelligence that mentioned CHC or Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory. However, since 2004 there have been at least 21 publications that reference this model of intelligence.

It is my opinion that CHC theory clearly reached a tipping point somewhere between 2001-2003 and it is now making strong inroads as one of the most supported models of the structure of human intelligence in the field of intelligence research.

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