Raymond B. Cattell dies

Raymond B. Cattell, PhD, 92, the psychologist whose research was extremely influential in the scientific study of personality, died Feb. 2 of natural causes at his home in Honolulu.

Cattell was born in England and earned a bachelor?s degree in chemistry and a PhD in psychology at London University. In 1937 he joined the research staff of E.L. Thorndike at Columbia University where he worked with adherents of the opposing multiple-factor theory of intelligence. He then accepted the G. Stanley Hall professorship at Clark University, where he worked developing objective behavioral measures of personality and the Culture-Free Intelligence Test. In 1941 he joined the faculty of Harvard University at the invitation of Gordon Allport.

In 1945, he accepted a research professorship at the University of Illinois at Urbana?Champaign. There, working with his associates, he developed a comprehensive theory of the development and organization of personality over the life span. Cattell and his associates wrote four widely read books that influenced the design of personality research around the world: ?The Description and Measurement of Personality,? ?An Introduction to Personality Study,? ?Personality, a Systematic, Theoretical and Factual Study? and ?Personality and Motivation Structure and Measurement.?

Cattell also was well known for his significant advances in factor analysis and other methodologies.

He received wide recognition for his scientific contributions throughout his 70-year career. Cattell was selected by the American Psychological Foundation (APF) as the reciepent of the Gold Medal Award for Lifetime Achievements in Psychological Science at the APA 1997 Annual Convention. The presentation of the award was postponed, however, due to a controversy that arose about positions he had taken on social and political issues. APF appointed a panel to make recommendations on the disposition of the award, but in January Cattell asked that his name be withdrawn from consideration and the panel?s work was suspended. Cattell is survived by his wife, five children and seven grandchildren.