A Meta-Analysis of the Correlations Among Broad Intelligences: Understanding their Relations

The broad intelligences include a group of mental abilities such as comprehension knowledge, quantitative reasoning, and spatial reasoning that are relatively specific in their focus and fall at the second stratum of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model of intelligence. In recent years, the field has seen a proliferation of mental abilities being considered for inclusion among the broad intelligences, which poses challenges in terms of their effective and efficient assessment. We conducted a meta-analysis of 60 articles that reported correlations among the broad intelligences. Results indicated that the average correlation among broad intelligences fell between r = .52 and r = .66, depending upon the estimation model employed. Applying factor analysis to the composite correlation matrix, we also indicate possible dimensions that may be useful to organize the increasing number of broad intelligences. Finally, we discuss the implications of the correlations among broad intelligences as an evaluative tool for candidate intelligences