GROUPS & TYPES OF INTELLIGENCE
INTELLIGENCE, TYPES AND KINDS
Intelligence, from a panoramic view, is a set of general mental abilities and capabilities acquired or acquiring used in comprehending complex ideas, abstract concepts, planning, problem-solving, logical reasoning, creativity, quick learning either through experience and/or intuition in everyday life at different situational circumstances [in a morally accepted manner]. Per the definition above, any skill or ability that falls within these criteria can be seen as intelligence. This means there can be many types, forms and groups of intelligence. There is no doubt that IQ tests can be designed to test multiple intelligence or specific intelligence. The notion of whether intelligence should be seen as single-General Intelligence or multiple-Specific Intelligence people develop has brought different schools of thought to examine the kinds, types, forms and groups of human intelligence.
The first school of thought which believes that people possess and develop Single-General Intelligence was proposed by Charles Spearman (1904). In other words, people possess single ability but apply it on all general intelligence. Spearman termed this General Intelligence (gi) as g factor (or g) for short. According to Spearman, g factor or general intelligence factor (gif) is a single (or common) measurable intelligence which enables people to perform different tasks of mental ability. There is an underlying single (or common) ability in all general intelligence. Ability to perform well in one intellectual activity has positive correlations on all other cognitive tasks and vice-versa (ability to perform well among other different mental tasks has positive correlations on one type of mental task). However, his Two-Factor Theory of Intelligence also identified that people can possess specific intelligence for a specific mental activity. He termed Specific Intelligence factor as s factor. Unlike g factor which determines the general intelligence of people and is common in most people, s factor is varied from person to person and it’s meant for specific cognitive or mental task.
The g factor, according to Wikipedia (2017) which cited many theories, publications, writers and authors, is a variable that summarizes positive correlations among different cognitive tasks, reflecting the fact that an individual’s performance on one type of cognitive task tends to be comparable to that person’s performance on other kinds of cognitive tasks. The terms IQ, general intelligence, general cognitive ability, general mental ability (or simply intelligence) are often used interchangeably to refer to this common core shared by cognitive tests. The g factor targets a particular measure of general intelligence.
Spearman was more emphasis on testing and measuring general intelligence of people and/or intelligence should be seen as general cognitive ability rather than specific cognitive ability. With regard to the difference between s and g factor theory of intelligence, Wikipedia (2017) explains that Spearman proposed that his two-factor theory has two components. The general intelligence, g, influences the performance on all mental tasks, while another component influences abilities on a particular task. To explain the differences in performance on different tasks, Spearman hypothesized that this other component was specific to a certain aspect of intelligence. This second factor he named s, for specific ability. Regarding g, Spearman saw individuals as having more or less general intelligence, while s varied from person to person on a task.
In 1999, behaviour geneticist Robert Plomin described g as: “g is one of the most reliable and valid measures in the behavioural domain… and it predicts important social outcomes such as educational and occupational levels far better than any other trait.” (Wikipedia, 2017).
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