General Knowledge (GK)

Differential psychology (the ways in which individuals differ in their behavior) defines general knowledge (GK) as "culturally valued knowledge communicated by a range of non-specialist media" and encompassing a wide subject range.

GK is strongly associated with general intelligence and weakly associated with openness to experience. Studies have found that people who are highly knowledgeable in a particular domain tend to be knowledgeable in many.

Recent studies have found that GK is associated with exam performance in schoolchildren and proofreading skills.

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 20 domains of knowledge that meet the above criteria:

1) Art                                              6) Fashion                  11) Geography               16) Music
2) Biology                                      7) Film                         12) History                      17) Politics
3) Classical music                        8) Finance                  13) History of Science   18) Popular Music
4) Cookery                                     9) Games                   14) Literature                  19) Sports
5) Discovery and Exploration    10) General science    15) Medicine                  20) Television

Researchers have acknowledged that other domains of general knowledge may exist. Factor analysis suggested that the 20 domains could be categorized into six factors:

1) Current Affairs
2) Fashion
3) Family
4) Physical health & Recreation
5) Arts
6) Science