Hierarchies of factor solutions in the intelligence domain: Applying methodology from personality psychology to gain insights into the nature of intelligence

•Intelligence and personality researchers frequently study hierarchical models.•Personality researcher additionally study hierarchies of factor solutions.•This investigates the theoretical and empirical implications of the solutions-hierarchy approach for intelligence research.•Re-analyses of five large datasets using the solutions-hierarchy approach for a 1-2-3-5 structure.•This structure included g, gc/gf, speed-reasoning-knowledge, and speed-reasoning–fluency–knowledge–memory/perception factors.

Research on the structure of psychometric intelligence has used hierarchical models like the higher-order and the bi-factor model and has studied the hierarchical relationship between factors within these models. In contrast, research on the structure of personality has not only used hierarchical models but has also studied hierarchies of factor solutions. We clarify the theoretical and conceptual differences between hierarchical models and the solutions-hierarchy approach used in the field of personality research, and suggest that the solutions-hierarchy perspective can provide a novel perspective for intelligence research. We used the solutions-hierarchy approach to study four correlation matrices (N = 230 to 710; 38 to 63 tests), and a large dataset (N = 16,823; 44 tests). Results provided (a) insights into relationships between intelligence constructs across the hierarchy of factor solutions, and (b) evidence that intelligence has a 1–2–3–5 hierarchy of factor solutions with a g factor at the top, gc and gf factors at the second level, a speed–reasoning–knowledge taxonomy at the third level, and possibly a speed-reasoning–fluency–knowledge–memory/perception taxonomy at the fifth level.

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