THE MEANING AND NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE

 

ENGEL-defines intelligence as the ability of an organism to adapt to its environment.

TERMAN-says intelligence is a general capacity of an individual to adjust his thinking to new requirements;it is a general adaptation to new problems. THURSTON-says Intelligence is both general ability and a number of specific abilities.

STAGNER-refers to intelligence as learning ability,and the ability to see learning in new situations.

A I.GATES- refers to intelligence as a composite or organization of abilities to learn, to grasp broad and subtle facts, especially abstract facts, with alertness and accuracy, to exercise mental control, and to display flexibility and ingenuity in seeking the solution of problems. COLVIN-says that an individual possesses intelligence in so far as he has learned or can learn to adjust himself to his environment.

DAVIDOFF(1976)-An overall abilities to act purposefully,to think rationally, and to deal effectively to the environment. CHAPLIN AND KRAWIEC(1979)-They define intelligence as the arm-chair or deductive method,employed by binet and simon. 

Most definitions emphasize certain capacities as basic:

1) The ability to deal with abstract symbols,concepts and relationships 2) Learning or the ability to profit from experience 3) The ability to adapt to new situations, or problem solving

Intelligence- is an aggregate of relatively independent attitudes as:a) Verbal Comprehension b) Word Fluencyc) Skill in Numerical Computation d) Perceptual speed and accuracy e) Associative Memory f) Spatial Visualizationg) Mechanical Reasoning

SPEARMAN’S TWO -FACTOR THEORYCharles Edward Spearman

Born: September 10, 1863 in London , United Kingdom

Died: September 17, 1945 in the aged of 82

Nationality: British

Field: English Psychologist

- All intellectual ability can be expressed as the result of the operation of two factors.

  GENERAL INTELLECTUAL FACTOR (g) - Which

is common to all abilities  SPECIFIC FACTOR (s) - Which is specific to

any particular ability, but different in every case.

The specifics tend to cancel each other, so that in the long run most of what accounts for an individual's intelligence is determined by (g).

ATHLETICISM, LIKE INTELLIGENCE, IS MANY THINGS

g

Spearman’s Theory of Intelligence

THURSTONE'S MULTIFACTOR THEORY

Louis Leon Thurstone

Born: May 29, 1887 in Chicago, Illinois

Died: September 30, 1955 in the aged of 68

Nationality: American

Fields: Psychometrics and psychophysics

He says intelligence is not determined primarily by a simple,general factor but a variable number of similarly broad factors.

His theory also called the Theory of Primary Mental Abilities .

Seven Primary Mental Abilities namely: 1) VERBAL ABILITY (V) : The ability to

understand and use verbal concepts effectively.

2) NUMBER (N) : The ability to carry out fundamental arithmetic operations quickly and correctly.

3) SPATIAL (S) : The ability to deal with objects in space and to utilize spatial relationships.4) PERCEPTUAL (P) : The ability to identify objects quickly and accurately.5) MEMORY (M) : The ability to retain and learn information.6) REASONING (R) : The ability to perceive and use abstract relationships in the solution of problems.7) WORD FLUENCY (WF) : The ability to think of words fluently. He used percentile rating reflecting the

individual’s standing on each of the primary ability tests.

THORNDIKE'S MULTIFACTOR THEORY (THEORY OF SPECIFIC INTELLIGENCE)

Edward Lee Thorndike

Born:August 31, 1874 Williamsburg, Massachusetts, U.S.

Died:August 9, 1949 (aged 74) Montrose, New York

Nationality:American

Occupation:Psychologist

Known for: Father of modern educational psychology

- He states that intelligence is simply the summation of all the abilities involved in mental facts , each separate and independent of the others.

He classified intelligence as:a) Altitude or level

b) Range

c.) Area

d.) Speed

C.A.V.DC- Sentence Completion

A- Arithmetic Reasoning

V- Vocabulary

D- Following Directions