Raymond Cattell - Multivariate Research

Multivariate Research

Rather than pursue a “univariate” research approach to psychology, studying the effect that a single variable (such as “dominance”) might have on one other variable (such as “decision-making”), Cattell pioneered the use of a multivariate approach to psychology. He believed that behavioral dimensions were too complex and interactive to fully understand one dimension in isolation. The classical univariate approach required bringing the individual into an artificial laboratory situation and measuring the effect of one particular variable on another, while the multivariate approach allowed psychologists to study the whole person and their unique combination of traits in a natural environment. Multivariate analyses allowed for the study of real-world situations (e.g. depression, divorce, loss) that could not be manipulated in a laboratory.

Cattell applied multivariate research to three domains: the traits of personality or temperament, the motivational or dynamic traits, and the diverse dimensions of abilities. In each of these areas, he thought there must be a finite number of basic, unitary elements that could be identified. He drew a comparison between these fundamental, underlying traits to the basic elements of the physical world that were discovered and presented in the periodic table of the elements.

In 1960, he organized an international meeting of research-oriented psychologists, resulting in the founding of the Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology, and its journal, Multivariate Behavioral Research. He brought many researchers from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America to work at his lab at the University of Illinois. Many of his books were written in collaboration with others.