Charles Spearman And Spearman's Theory Of Intelligence

578 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Intelligence and psychological testing

In psychology intelligence if often debated, but there are many different views on what intelligence is. Some say you have to have a wide range of abilities. Other opinions are intelligence is strictly based on upon the knowledge of subjects. For example Charles Spearman and Louis Thurstone had different views on the topic.
These two men differed in opinion on how IQ and intelligence should be measured. They also had different opinions on what made a person smart. In order to examine this they first had to understand the human brain and how it works. They had to examine the human study habits along with the human test taking habits. Spearman thought that if all mental tests are mutually related then there is some common factor that causes this. Spearman developed a method called factor analysis that shows that these mutual relations between mental ability tests were the direct result of a common factor among them. Spearman used factor analysis to prove that certain groups of mental ability tests can measure a common mental ability.
In the 1900’s Charles Spearman came up with the t...

Show More
Related

  • Exploring Gardner's Theory on Multiple Intelligences

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    Howard Gardner used to define intelligence as “the ability to solve problems or to create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings” (Gardner 33). The modern day human being would most likely include the words “smart” and “dumb” in their definition of intelligence. Gardner questioned the belief of only one intelligence so he created his own theory that involved seven different discoveries. He didn’t want to call these discoveries “skills” or “talents” or gifts” because those all suggested a drawback so he decided on the word “intelligence,” creating his theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner 33). Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences including, linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal, has many implications for modern education and culture.

    Read More

  • Carroll's Two-Factor Theory Paper

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    General intelligence tends to relate to various degrees with each other (Cohen 2012). An example of this is that if an individual is good in math, they may also be good in spelling. In this weeks reading we reviewed several different models of measurement of intelligence. In regard to these theories and general intelligence (g), the theories are various but have commonality and overlap. The Spearman's two-factor theory is if a test has high correlation with other test than the measurement of g is highly saturated (Cohen, 2012). The greater the importance of g on a test, the better the test is believed to predict intelligence

    Read More

  • Spatial Intelligence According To Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence?

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Howard Gardner (1991), every individual is born with a certain intelligence or potential intelligence. It is unfair to teach and/or assess an individual with a standard guideline or benchmark. This is mainly because every individual possess a different intellectual strength and different kinds of mind that learn, perform and understand in a different ways which is difficult to be changed. If an individual cannot understand the way we communicate, we should communicate in the way they can understand. Howard Gardner (1983), in his Multiple Intelligence Theory, proposes that human intelligence has seven dimensions that should be acknowledged and developed by the encouragement of learning and self-development and

    Read More

  • Examining Intelligence: Definitions, Theories and Testing

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    Similar to Sternberg, Binet came to the conclusion that intelligence is the sum of mental processes (Flangan, Harrison, 2005). He developed the first intelligence test in order to categorize how much children benefitted from school education. The Binet-Simon scale, keeping in mind that Binet believed in intelligence consisting of different components, thus included language component, auditory processing, learning and memory, as well as judgement and problem solving (Kamin, 1974). The results were supposed to identify the student’s mental age. Lewis Terman introduced the Binet-Simon test to America and adapted it to sort army recruits in World War I (Comer et al., 2013). The Stanford-Binet test, developed by Terman in 1916, aimed to be an improved version that was able to measure mental age more appropriately (Kamin, 1974). He was convinced that intelligence is the ability to form concepts and to think abstract (Comer et al., 2013). The Stanford-Binet test has been described by Maud Minton to be superior to other intelligence tests of that time because it was very precise, it had detailed guidelines, it measured the IQ which became the standard marking system (Flangan, Harrison,

    Read More

  • Howard Gardner's Theory Of Multiple Intelligence

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Howard Gardner’s theory contains eight main multiple intelligence. As the years have progressed there have taken one out and is left with the main seven. These seven are: Linguistic, Mathematical, Spatial, bodily, Musical, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. These are found in everyone; however, each person will excel in one or two. Once teachers can determine what intelligence the students will exceed on and teach to their strengths the student will learn much more.

    Read More

  • Charles Spearman's Model of Intelligence and Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    Spearman thought that if all mental tests are mutually related then there is some common factor that causes this. Spearman developed a statistical method called factor analysis that shows that these mutual relations between mental ability tests were the direct result of a common factor among them. Spearman used factor analysis to prove that certain groups of mental ability tests can measure a common mental ability. Charles Spearman's model of intelligence is based on his observation that "All te3sts of mental ability are positively correlated. Spearman discovered that people who score high on IQ or mental ability tests usually score higher on other types of test, and people who score lower on IQ and mental ability tests generally score lower on other mental ability test." (www.associatedcontent.com)

    Read More

  • Comparing the Nomothetic and Idiographic Approaches as They Apply to the Study of Intelligence and Personality

    1973 Words  | 4 Pages

    Psychologists relied on statistical results because it involves vast number of people, making it reliable. Intelligence is a behavior or thinking produced by our personality; some say it is whatever intelligence measures. Intelligent theories also argue if it is a divergent or unity ability, yet some argue about even considering it as a part of personality. Personalities like intelli...

    Read More

  • Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Burgeron

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    The word can be used as a measure of both natural and learned aptitude, and has little to do with skill, and vice-versa. For example, a person skilled at being a mathematician may not also be a great speaker. Both of these things are considered common qualifiers of intelligence. Is this person, thus, not intelligent? Even traditional measures of “intelligence”, such as the IQ test, are often incapable of determining the brightness of a person.

    Read More

  • Positive And Cons Of The Theory Of Intelligence

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    Verbal Intelligence; Non-verbal Intelligence; Concrete Reasoning; and Abstract Reasoning are several of the mental abilities that have been identified by psychologists (Santrock, 2013). Spearman’s thoughts were that intelligence is general cognitive ability that can be numerically expressed and measured.

    Read More

  • Howard Gardner and Project Zero

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most researchers believe that we are born with a certain intelligence or potential intelligence. They also believe that the intelligence we are born with is difficult to change. Psychologists use short-answer tests to assess one’s intelligence (Gardner papers). It was believed that intelligence was a single inherited thing. Human beings start out initially as a blank slate and could be trained to learn anything, provided that it was presented in an appropriate way (Multiple Intelligences and Education). Currently an “increasing number of researchers believe the opposite. Gardner defined intelligence as: “the ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in culture; a set ...

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Intelligence

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    Intelligence is a function of how well the brain works, and it's well established that our brains are designed by genes so it's not entirely surprising that some deem this as proof that our genes play a part in deciding a person’s intelligence. However, this is not a widely accepted fact and many scholars would argue intelligence is indeed not fixed by ones genes but instead manipulated by other factors.

    Read More

  • Defining Intelligence

    436 Words  | 1 Pages

    One of the most definitive things ever said regarding the nature of intelligence was that intelligence is whatever IQ tests measure. The IQ test has been in use throughout the 20th century and serves as an accepted measure of a person’s intelligence. It is used by institutions such as schools and the army to screen people’s level of intelligence and decisions are made based on that. The IQ test consists of a series of questions regarding certain skills such as vocabulary, mathematics, spatial relations. The scores that a person gets on these tests depend on the amount of questions that a person answers correctly. The actual score that a person gets is dependant on how others in that age group do on those particular questions.

    Read More

  • The Measurement of Intelligence through IQ Tests

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    Can intelligence be measured? Does an IQ test actually measure a person’s intelligence? Does a high score indicate a genius? Does a low score indicate stupidity or merely ignorance? These questions have been asked over and over again by psychiatrists and scientists alike, but to date there are no clear answers. These questions cannot be answered without first defining what is meant by the term intelligence. Once intelligence has been defined then it should be easy to answer these questions; however, multiple definitions of the word tend to lead to further confusion.

    Read More

  • Intelligence: Nature or Nurture?

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    On the ‘nature’ side of the debate is the psychometric approach, considered to be the most dominant in the study of intelligence, which “inspired the most research and attracted the most attention” (Neisser et al. 1996, p. 77). It argues that there is one general (‘g’) factor which accounts for intelligence. In the 1880s, Francis Galton conducted many tests (measuring reaction times to cognitive tasks), (Boundless 2013), in order to scientifically measure intelligence. These tests were linked to the eugenic breeding programme, which aimed to eliminate biologically inferior people from society. Galton believed that as intelligence was inherited, social class or position were significant indicators of intelligence. If an individual was of high social standing, they would be more intelligent than those of a lower position. However he failed to show any consistency across the tests for this hypothesis, weakening his theory that social class correlated with intelligence. Nevertheless, his creation of the intelligence test led many to continue to develop...

    Read More

  • Charles Spearman and the Theory of Neogenesis

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unfortunately for Spearman, his two factor theory was beginning to dwindle. By the early 30s, his simple theory was begun to be overshadowed in the U.S.A. His factor analysis begun to merge with present day technology and people were beginning to lose interest in that g. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop Spearman from trying to obtain his g. To him it would further create laws of psychology. Because of this pursuit, in 1923, Spearman would produce the theory of noegenesis. Noegenesis was his refined two factor theory, which stated that acquiring knowledge was a multistep process.

    Read More

More about Charles Spearman And Spearman's Theory Of Intelligence

Open Document