General Knowledge - Scope

Scope

Differential psychology researchers define general knowledge as "culturally valued knowledge communicated by a range of non-specialist media." The scope of this definition includes all areas of knowledge available to laypersons without requiring extensive training. The definition excludes "ephemera", or information confined to a single medium, such as television sitcoms. Researchers have identified 19 domains of knowledge that meet the above criteria:

Researchers have acknowledged that other domains of general knowledge may exist. Factor analysis suggested that the 19 domains could be categorised into six factors: current affairs, fashion, family, physical health and recreation, arts, and science. All six of these factors were highly intercorrelated (i.e. people who scored high in a particular domain tended to score highly in most other domains) and were all related to a single higher-order general knowledge factor. The existence of a single general factor suggests that individual differences across a range of knowledge domains may have both common causes and specific influences; interest in a particular area and educational course content appear to be important contributors.