It might seem useless to define such a word that we use rapidly in our day-to-day conversations. We all probably have a brief understanding of what intelligence means but the topic of intelligence has a wide range of different forms in psychology. It ranges from simpler to more complex forms.

 Intelligence includes the ability to understand, comprehend and learn, emotional stability that one possesses, creativity, ability to solve problems, and the adaptability to change. There are many ways to define intelligence. It also includes some higher forms such as abstract and logical reasoning, the ability to make smart decisions, and mental representation.

Brief History of Intelligence

Intelligence took its root from the work of Francis Galton in the 1800s. He reportedly was one of the first people who showed interest in the area of intelligence. He was inclined towards studying the people who are ‘gifted’. Gifted people were those who were blessed with a high level of mental abilities and skills.

He made a hypothesis that intelligence is the general ability linked with the biological evolution of the being. In order to test this hypothesis, he created a lab to measure reaction times and other physical features of the individuals.

Salient features of Galton study

Some of the features of Francis Galton study includes:

  • He considered intelligence as a reaction time.
  • He concluded that some features are advantageous to intelligence such as quickness. So, these features are strong indicators to measure the general intelligence of the individual.
  • It is important to assess intelligence in measuring terms. As it is an unmeasurable term but we can measure it on the basis of measurable features in order to conduct empirical research.

Galton’s contribution to the field of intelligence became the basis of future research studies. He conducted his research in laboratory settings but opened the doors of further research and debates in the area of intelligence.

Theories of Intelligence

Few researchers argued that intelligence is the general ability while some added that intelligence involves some specific abilities and skills. Further research development also sparked a debate that whether intelligence is genetic or dependent on the environment in which one lives.

Few researchers claimed that the surrounding environment is a strong factor that affects the intelligence of a being in a positive or negative way depending on the quality of the environment.

On the basis of such contrasting views regarding intelligence, researchers have developed contrasting theories and tests in order to measure the intelligence level of an individual.

Spearman’s General Intelligence

According to Spearman, intelligence is the general ability that can be calculated by measuring specific abilities and skills such as verbal abilities, numerical abilities, and mechanical abilities, etc.

He proposed the two-factor theory in 1904 based on a technique known as factor analysis. Factor analysis is used to measure the correlation between the related variables. The goal of factor analysis was to find the underlying factors that affect the correlation of two variables.

While measuring the intelligence via test Spearman found out that a person who achieved well in one area also achieved pretty well in the other area. For instance, an individual who done well in the area of mathematics also done well in music. On the basis of this result, he regarded intelligence as the general ability (g) of the person.

So, Spearman established that there is a sole g-factor that analyzes the individual’s general intelligence and the s-factor depicts the person’s specific abilities in one specific area.

Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities

Thurstone confronted the concept of the g-factor. He analyzed the facts from 56 tests different from one another. As a result of this, he identified a few primary mental abilities that measure the intelligence of an individual. He claimed that there is no single general factor that measures the intelligence of a person.

He identified seven different primary factors that can measure the intelligence level. These factors include speaking fluency, verbal understanding, and ability to deal with numerals, spatial visualization, and speed to deal with wide information, inductive reasoning, and memory.

He did not negate the spearman’s g-factor in the true sense. In fact, he concluded that intelligence is the mixture of both general ability and specific skills and talents. But, again it paved the way for future research in the area of intelligence.

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Following the findings of Thurstone, Gardner added that there are various forms of intelligence. According to him, there is no single form of intelligence, in fact, there are multiple forms of intelligence that are distinct and independent from one another.

Every form of intelligence includes different talents and skills that cannot be neglected while measuring intelligence in its true sense. Initially, he proposed seven different forms of intelligence including logical and mathematical intelligence, linguistic abilities, spatial, musical skills, interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills, and bodily-kinesthetic.

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

In 1985, Robert Sternberg proposed a theory of intelligence carrying three aspects: creative intelligence, analytical intelligence, and practical intelligence.

Creative intelligence means the ability to think out of the box. It includes imagination, innovation, and the ability to solve problems. Analytical intelligence includes the ability to logically analyze the problem and successfully arrive at the required solution. While practical intelligence includes the person’s ability to meet the ever-changing demands of the environment. It is about gaining knowledge from the surroundings through experience and then applying that knowledge in the situations faced in the future.

 Conclusion

The area of intelligence has been tested for over decades and is still unfolding. Starting from a general factor, researchers now claim that there are various forms of intelligence. All these forms are not only distinct from one another but also cannot be neglected.

Intelligence is a concept highly subjective in nature. There are a large number of tests (e.g: https://iq-global-test.com/), have been developed to measure various forms of intelligence arising further debates in this area.

The above-mentioned theories show that the field of intelligence has come a long way in research and still has a long way to go.