Major theories of intelligence in psychology

¶ … Intelligence

Theories of intelligence have evolved through a series of paradigms. The major paradigms are psychometrics, cognitive psychology, contextualism, and biological. Below we compare and contrast Spearman-factor analysis, Thurstone-primary mental abilities, Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence, and Robert Sternberg constructed a three prong triarchic theory of intelligence

Spearman-factor analysis

The first major psychometric theorist was psychologist Charles E. Spearman, who argued that People who did well on one mental ability test also did well on the others, and people who did not do well on one of them also did not do well on the others.

In order to confirm his prediction, Spearman devised a technique for statistical analysis, which he called factor analysis. By using factor analysis, Spearman was able to examine patterns of individual differences in test scores and provide an analysis of the underlying sources of these individual differences. Spearmen through his tests found that only two kinds of factors underlie all individual differences in test scores. The first and more important factor was named as the "general factor," or g, which is said to encompass performance on all kinds of tasks requiring intelligence. The second factor is specifically related to each particular test.

Thurstone-primary mental abilities

In contrast, L.L. Thurstone argued that a single factor was a manufactured artifice of the way Spearman did his factor analysis. So Thurstone argued that if the analysis were done in an appropriate way, seven factors would appear. These seven primary mental abilities identified by Thurstone were verbal comprehension, verbal fluency, spatial visualization, inductive reasoning, memory, and perceptual speed.

Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence

Gardner argued that intelligence can not be one; rather he argued a theory "multiple intelligences." In his view, there are multiple kinds of intelligences, including, linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence. Some of these intelligences are similar to the intelligence proposed by the psychometric theorists, but others are not included in the psychometric tests. For example, Gardener argued that the idea of a musical intelligence is relatively new, so is the idea of a bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, which encompasses the particular faculties of athletes and dancers. Gardner derived his listing of intelligences from a variety of sources, including studies of cognitive processing, of brain damage, of exceptional individuals, and of cognition across cultures. Gardner proposed his theory is applicable universally.

Robert Sternberg constructed a three prong triarchic theory of intelligence

In contrast, though Sternberg agreed with the theory of Gardener about multiple level of intelligence, he did not believe that way Gardener characterized intelligence. According to him, a theory of intelligence can be adequately mapped with three components: analytic (academic) intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence. This theory accounts for both cognition and context is also referred as Sternberg's "triarchic" theory of human intelligence.

According to Sternberg, intelligence has three aspects. These are not multiple intelligences, as in Gardner's scheme. Where Gardner viewed the various intelligences as separate and independent, Sternberg posited three integrated and interdependent aspects of intelligence. These aspects relate intelligence to what goes on internally within a person, to what goes on in the external world, and to experience, which mediates between the internal and external worlds.

The first aspect consists of the cognitive processes and representations that form the core of all thought. Sternberg distinguished three kinds of processes: those involved in deciding what to do and in deciding how well it was done, those involved in doing what one had decided to do, and those involved in learning how to do it in the first place.