Theories of Intelligence

Most psychologist would define Intelligence as a persons ability to learn and remember information, to recognize concepts and their relations, and to apply the information to their own behavior in an adaptive way. Recently, psychologist have pointed out of any definition of intelligence depends on cultural judgement. Traditionally, psychologist have followed two major approaches in their study of the nature intelligence. The differential approach tries to devise test that identify and measure individual differences in peoples abilities to solve problem. For example, these test ask people to define words, explain proverbs, solve arithmetic problems, discover similarities in shapes and patterns, and answer questions about a passage of prose. The developmental approach studies the ways in which infants learn to perceive, manipulate, and think about the world.the most influential proponent of this approach was the Swiss psychologist Jean Piagets (1896-1980) which focuses on developmental over the lifespan. The Information-processing approach, which is based on research methods they developed to investigate the types of skills people use to think and to solve various types of problems. Spearmans Psychometric Approach and the g Factor The psychometric approach to intelligence, pioneered by Charles spearman (1904), features the measurement ( metric) of individual differencesa in behaviors and abilities. Spearman argued, people need a certain general ability, which he called g. (The g is always italicized and always lowercase, like the terms e and i in mathematics.) To account for the fact that performance on various task does not correlate perfectly, spearman suggested that each task requires the use of a specific ability, s, in addition to the general ability, g, that all tasks require. Evidence from Factor Analysis Factor analysis is a statistical procedure developed by Spearman and Pearson that permits investigators to identify common factors among groups of tests. In the case of intelligence tests, these common factors would be particular abilities that affect peoples performance on more than one test. Suppose that a group of people take several different test of intellectual ability. If each persons score on several of these test correlate well eith one another, we would conclude that the test are (at least partly) measuring the same factor. A factor analysis determines which sets of test form group.

Fluid Intelligence and Crystallized Intelligence Raymond Cattell accepted Spearmans psychometric approach but proposed one important modifivation. According to Cattell (1987), the g factor has two components: fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence is the power of reasoning and using information. It include the ability to perceive relationship, solve unfamiliar problems, and gain new types of knowlegde. Fluid intelligence mostly relates to the ability to process quickly large amounts of information in working memory (Fry & Hale, 1996). Crystallized intelligence consist of acquired skills and knowledge and application of that knowledge to the specific content of a persons experience. Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligence In particular, Howard Gardner (1985) has claimed that people have multiple intelligencenumerous unrelated forms of intelligence. Gardner distinguishes language abilities, musical abilities, logical and mathematical reasoning, sptial reasoning, body movement skills, self-control and self-understanding, and sensitivity to other peoples social signals. He points out that people can be outstanding in one type of intelligence but not in others. Sternbergs Triarchic theory of Intelligence Robert Sternberg (1985) has offered one of the most influential attempts to specify in detail the processes of intelligent behavior. Sternbergs description is called a triarchic theory because Sternberg deals with three aspect of intelligence: (a) the cognitive processes that occur within the individual (b) the identification of situations that require intelligence (c) the ability to use intelligence in the external world