CONCEPTAND DEFINITION OF INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence involves a number of abilities together. It is the ability to
understand the incoming information and make sense out of it. It is
the ability to acquire new skills and use the existing knowledge to
complete a task or deal with a situation. Intelligence includes the
capacity to understand novel stimuli, learning language and
communicate with others, being aware of the environment, have the
ability to reason, plan, and solve the problems creatively. According
toWechsler (1944), “Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity
of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal
effectively with his environment.” Intelligence from Indian
perspective is conceptualised as adaptive potentiality of a person in
different domains of life. It is not limited to cognitive domain only.
This adaptive potentiality consists of a range of skills that help one to
oovercome the life problems, to grow and become what one wants
to be (Srivastava & Misra, 1997). There are individual differences in
intelligence. These differences influence the capacity of the people
to cope with their daily life issues. Those who score less than 70 on
IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tests are considered as people with
intellectual disability (ID). The level of ID also varies. This limits their
capacity to perform daily life functions, or do simple tasks, and are
poor on academic and life skills. They are generally groomed in social
and vocational skills. There are sex differences in intelligence.
Women and girls have been found to be better on verbal tasks while
men and boys have been found to be better on performance tasks.
Differences in intelligence have also been related to the intellectually
stimulating home environment
THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence has been defined in a particular way but there are
differing opinions about the concept of intelligence. Thus, there are
, several theories that describe and explain intelligence with different
perspectives. One group of theorists focuses upon the organization
of mental abilities as factors that constitute intelligence. The other
group looks at the nature of the intellectual processes.
Spearman’s Theory of Intelligence Charles Spearman’s (1904) theory
of intelligence is known as two-factor theory. Spearman noticed that
children who perform well in one subject tend to have good marks in
other subjects also. This observation led him to propose that there is
a common factor which affects all of your activities. Using a statistical
method called as “factor analysis”, he proposed that all cognitive
activity or mental activity consists of two factors namely, “general”
or “g” factor and “specific” or “s” factor. So, intelligence is a sum of
“g” factor and “s” factor. The g-factor theory or generalfactor theory
states that intelligence is composed of a general intelligence. The g
factor refers to the broad spectrum of mental faculties that
influences the performance on a wide variety of cognitive abilities.
The s factor is the single or unique factor. It proposes that all
cognitive abilities are related to one another. Hence, the general
intelligence is responsible for acquiring knowledge, abstract
reasoning and adapting to novel situations.
Thurstone’s Theory of Intelligence
L.L. Thurstone (1938) emphasized that intelligence involved seven
clusters of Primary Mental Abilities (PMA). His approach was very
different from that of Spearman’s. He suggested that the differences
that were observed in the performance of intellectual tasks could be
attributed to different independent abilities. These abilities included:
i) Word Fluency(W): Ability to think or use words rapidly, such as in
the task of anagrams. ii) Verbal Comprehension(V): Ability to
understand the meaning of the word, concept or ideas correctly.
Vocabulary tests assess verbal comprehension. iii) Spatial
Visualization(S):It is the ability to manipulate patterns and forms of
objects in space visually. iv) Perceptual Speed(P): Tendency to
Intelligence involves a number of abilities together. It is the ability to
understand the incoming information and make sense out of it. It is
the ability to acquire new skills and use the existing knowledge to
complete a task or deal with a situation. Intelligence includes the
capacity to understand novel stimuli, learning language and
communicate with others, being aware of the environment, have the
ability to reason, plan, and solve the problems creatively. According
toWechsler (1944), “Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity
of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal
effectively with his environment.” Intelligence from Indian
perspective is conceptualised as adaptive potentiality of a person in
different domains of life. It is not limited to cognitive domain only.
This adaptive potentiality consists of a range of skills that help one to
oovercome the life problems, to grow and become what one wants
to be (Srivastava & Misra, 1997). There are individual differences in
intelligence. These differences influence the capacity of the people
to cope with their daily life issues. Those who score less than 70 on
IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tests are considered as people with
intellectual disability (ID). The level of ID also varies. This limits their
capacity to perform daily life functions, or do simple tasks, and are
poor on academic and life skills. They are generally groomed in social
and vocational skills. There are sex differences in intelligence.
Women and girls have been found to be better on verbal tasks while
men and boys have been found to be better on performance tasks.
Differences in intelligence have also been related to the intellectually
stimulating home environment
THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence has been defined in a particular way but there are
differing opinions about the concept of intelligence. Thus, there are
, several theories that describe and explain intelligence with different
perspectives. One group of theorists focuses upon the organization
of mental abilities as factors that constitute intelligence. The other
group looks at the nature of the intellectual processes.
Spearman’s Theory of Intelligence Charles Spearman’s (1904) theory
of intelligence is known as two-factor theory. Spearman noticed that
children who perform well in one subject tend to have good marks in
other subjects also. This observation led him to propose that there is
a common factor which affects all of your activities. Using a statistical
method called as “factor analysis”, he proposed that all cognitive
activity or mental activity consists of two factors namely, “general”
or “g” factor and “specific” or “s” factor. So, intelligence is a sum of
“g” factor and “s” factor. The g-factor theory or generalfactor theory
states that intelligence is composed of a general intelligence. The g
factor refers to the broad spectrum of mental faculties that
influences the performance on a wide variety of cognitive abilities.
The s factor is the single or unique factor. It proposes that all
cognitive abilities are related to one another. Hence, the general
intelligence is responsible for acquiring knowledge, abstract
reasoning and adapting to novel situations.
Thurstone’s Theory of Intelligence
L.L. Thurstone (1938) emphasized that intelligence involved seven
clusters of Primary Mental Abilities (PMA). His approach was very
different from that of Spearman’s. He suggested that the differences
that were observed in the performance of intellectual tasks could be
attributed to different independent abilities. These abilities included:
i) Word Fluency(W): Ability to think or use words rapidly, such as in
the task of anagrams. ii) Verbal Comprehension(V): Ability to
understand the meaning of the word, concept or ideas correctly.
Vocabulary tests assess verbal comprehension. iii) Spatial
Visualization(S):It is the ability to manipulate patterns and forms of
objects in space visually. iv) Perceptual Speed(P): Tendency to
