Definitions: Intellingence
Intelligence Theorists
Spearman g-factor
Charles Spearman first described the existence of general intelligence in 1904. According to Spearman, this g factor was responsible for overall performance on mental ability tests. Spearman noted that while people certainly could and often did excel in certain areas, people who did well in one area tended also to do well in other areas.
Spearman and General Intelligence
Charles Spearman was one of the researchers who helped develop a statistical technique known as factor analysis. Factor analysis allows researchers to a number of different test items that can measure common abilities.
For example, researchers might find that people who score well on questions that measure vocabulary also perform better on questions related to reading comprehension.
Spearman believed that general intelligence represented an intelligence factor underlying specific mental abilities. All tasks on intelligence tests, whether they related to verbal or mathematical abilities, were influenced by this underlying g-factor.
Many modern intelligence tests, including the Stanford-Binet, measure some of the cognitive factors that are thought to make up general intelligence. These include visual-spatial processing, quantitative reasoning, knowledge, fluid reasoning, and working memory.
- Visual-spatial processing involves such abilities as putting together puzzles and copying complex shapes.
- Quantitative reasoning involves the capacity to solve problems that involve numbers.
- Knowledge involves a person's understanding of a wide range of topics.
- Fluid reasoning involves the ability to think flexibly and solve problems.
- Working memory involves the use of short-term memory such as being able to repeat a list of items.
Lewis Terman-IQ
Lewis Madison Terman (1877-1956) was an eminent American psychologist who is most noted for his profound and lasting impact on the measurement of intelligence and achievement in the United States and for his seminal studies of children of high intelligence.
Terman defined intelligence as "the ability to carry on abstract thinking" (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1921) and used the label IQ or Intelligence Quotient, which had been suggested earlier by the German psychologist William Stern. The IQ obtained from the Stanford-Binet was calculated by dividing the individual's mental age (obtained from the test) by chronological age and then multiplying by 100. An average IQ is 100.
Terman's classic research on gifted children began in 1921 when he started to study the development of 1, 500 California children whose IQs were over 140. Scores over 140 fall into the top 0.5 percent of the population. Terman followed the 1, 500 children at later times in their childhood and in adulthood for the rest of his life, with follow-up surveys conducted in 1930, 1947, and, posthumously, in 1959 when the individuals were 17, 35, and 45. Research on the same group of individuals is still being conducted by other psychologists and may continue for many more years.
Terman's studies undoubtedly are still the most recognized and frequently quoted research on the gifted. Some say his most significant contribution to education and psychology was the multi-volume Genetic Studies of Genius (volumes from 1925 to 1929). His last progress report on this continuing study was The Gifted Child Grows Up (1947).
Guilford-SOI
In Guilford’s Structure of Intellect (SI) theory, intelligence is viewed as comprising operations, contents, and products. There are 5 kinds of operations (cognition, memory, divergent production, convergent production, evaluation), 6 kinds of products (units, classes, relations, systems, transformations, and implications), and 5 kinds of contents (visual, auditory, symbolic, semantic, behavioral). Since each of these dimensions is independent, there are theoretically 150 different components of intelligence.
Guilford researched and developed a wide variety of psychometric tests to measure the specific abilities predicted by SI theory. These tests provide an operational definition of the many abilities proposed by the theory. Furthermore, factor analysis was used to determine which tests appeared to measure the same or different abilities.
Parenthetically, it is interesting to note that a major impetus for Guilford’s theory was his interest in creativity (Guilford, 1950). The divergent production operation identifies a number of different types of creative abilities.
Gardner-MI
The theory of multiple intelligences was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. It suggests that the traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too limited. Instead, Dr. Gardner proposes eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. These intelligences are:
- Linguistic intelligence (“word smart”)
- Logical-mathematical intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”)
- Spatial intelligence (“picture smart”)
- Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (“body smart”)
- Musical intelligence (“music smart”)
- Interpersonal intelligence (“people smart”)
- Intrapersonal intelligence (“self smart”)
- Naturalist intelligence (“nature smart”)
Dr. Gardner says that our schools and culture focus most of their attention on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. We esteem the highly articulate or logical people of our culture. However, Dr. Gardner says that we should also place equal attention on individuals who show gifts in the other intelligences: the artists, architects, musicians, naturalists, designers, dancers, therapists, entrepreneurs, and others who enrich the world in which we live. Unfortunately, many children who have these gifts don’t receive much reinforcement for them in school. Many of these kids, in fact, end up being labeled “learning disabled,” “ADD (attention deficit disorder,” or simply underachievers, when their unique ways of thinking and learning aren’t addressed by a heavily linguistic or logical-mathematical classroom.
Sternberg-Triarchic
The triarchic theory of intelligence was formulated by Robert Sternberg in the 1980s. The theory attempts to understand the human intelligence in terms of distinct components rather than a single ability.The triarchic theory by Sternberg categorized intelligence into three different aspects:
Componential – Analytic skills
Experiential – Creativity
Practical – Contextual skills
Before Sternberg, general intelligence was the idea that dominated most of the intelligence theories. However, Sternberg believed intelligence to be a much more complex subject matter, which lead him to propose a theory dealing with the cognitive approach to intelligence theory rather than a behavioristic view point. He believed that a person’s adaptation to the changing environment and his contribution of knowledge in shaping the world around them had a significant importance in determining their intelligence.
Sternberg also argued that intelligent tests were wrong to ignore creativity, and there are always other important characteristics like cognitive processes, performance components, planning and decision making skills, and so on.