Definition:
Crystallized intelligence refers to the knowledge and skills that are accumulated over a lifetime. This type of intelligence tends to increase with age.
Crystallized intelligence along with its counterpart, fluid intelligence, are both factors of what psychologist Raymond Cattell described as general intelligence. While crystallized intelligence involves learning, knowledge and skills, fluid intelligence involves our ability to reason and make sense of abstract information.
It is important to note that despite the somewhat confusing name, crystallized intelligence is not a type of "crystallized" information from fluid intelligence. Instead, the two factors of intelligence are separate and distinct from one another.
