Human Intelligence: L.L. Thurstone

“Intelligence, considered as a mental trait, is the capacity to make impulses focal at their early, unfinished stage of formation. Intelligence ...           Interactive Map|AlphabeticalIndex|TimePeriodIndex Interactive Map     Alphabetical Index     Time PeriodIndex     Hot Topics     Map -PDF     HowtoCitethisSite      MakeaContribution      References      Contributors      Comments      L.L.Thurstone (1887-1955) Psychometrician Influences Studentof:Edison,Bingham Influencedby: Students:Taylor,T.Thurstone Influenced:Gardner TimePeriod:ContemporaryExplorations Education  CornellUniversity,MasterofEngineering(1912)  UniversityofChicago,Ph.D.inPsychology,(1914-1917)  DivisionofAppliedPsychologyattheCarnegieInstituteofTechnology,assistantship(1915-1917)  Career  AssistanttoThomasA.Edison(1912) Taughtdescriptivegeometryanddrafting,CollegeofEngineering,UniversityofMinnesota(1912-1914) Professor,CarnegieInstituteofTechnology(1917-1923)  InstituteforGovernmentResearch,WashingtonDC(1923) Professor,UniversityofChicago(1924-1952)  PresidentofAmericanPsychologicalAssociation(1932)  FirstPresidentoftheAmericanPsychometricSociety(1936) Director,PsychometricLaboratory,UniversityofNorthCarolina(1952-1955)  Numerousawards,including: BestArticle,AmericanPsychologicalAssociation(1949);CentennialAward,NorthwesternUniversity(1951);HonoraryDoctorate,UniversityofGöteborg(1954). DefinitionofIntelligence “Intelligence,consideredasamentaltrait,isthecapacitytomakeimpulsesfocalattheirearly,unfinishedstageofformation. Intelligenceisthereforethecapacityforabstraction,whichisaninhibitoryprocess(Thurstone,1924/1973p.159).” MajorContributions  TheoryofPrimaryMentalAbilities Developedthestatisticaltechniqueofmultiple-factoranalysis  IdeasandInterests  LouisLeonThurstonemadesignificantcontributionsinmanyareasofpsychology,includingpsychometrics,statistics,andthestudyofhumanintelligence.Hedevelopedmethodsforscalingpsychologicalmeasures,assessingattitudes,andtesttheory,amongmanyotherinfluentialcontributions.Heisbestknownforthedevelopmentofnewfactoranalytictechniquestodeterminethenumberandnatureoflatentconstructswithinasetofobservedvariables. ThenewstatisticaltechniquesdevelopedbyThurstoneprovidedthenecessarytoolsforhismostenduringcontributiontopsychology:TheTheoryofPrimaryMentalAbilities,amodelofhumanintelligencethatchallengedCharlesSpearman’sthen-dominantparadigmofaunitaryconceptionofintelligence.Spearman,usinganearlierapproachtofactoranalysis,foundthatscoresonallmentaltests(regardlessofthedomainorhowitwastested)tendtoloadononemajorfactor.Spearmansuggestedthatthesedisparatescoresarefueledbyacommonmetaphorical“pool”ofmentalenergy.Henamedthispoolthegeneralfactor,org(Spearman,1904). Thurstonearguedthatgwasastatisticalartifactresultingfromthemathematicalproceduresusedtostudyit.Usinghisnewapproachtofactoranalysis,Thurstonefoundthatintelligentbehaviordoesnotarisefromageneralfactor,butratheremergesfromsevenindependentfactorsthathecalledprimaryabilities:wordfluency,verbalcomprehension,spatialvisualization,numberfacility,associativememory,reasoning,andperceptualspeed(Thurstone,1938).Furthermore,whenThurstoneanalyzedmentaltestdatafromsamplescomprisedofpeoplewithsimilaroverallIQscores,hefoundthattheyhaddifferentprofilesofprimarymentalabilities,furthersupportinghismodelandsuggestingthathisworkhadmoreclinicalutilitythanSpearman’sunitarytheory.However,whenThurstoneadministeredhisteststoanintellectuallyheterogeneousgroupofchildren,hefailedtofindthatthesevenprimaryabilitieswereentirelyseparate;ratherhefoundevidenceofg.Thurstonemanagedanelegantmathematicalsolutionthatresolvedtheseapparentlycontradictoryresults,andthefinalversionofhistheorywasacompromisethataccountedforthepresenceofbothageneralfactorandthesevenspecificabilities.Thiscompromisehelpedlaythegroundworkforfutureresearcherswhoproposedhierarchicaltheoriesandtheoriesofmultipleintelligences(Ruzgis,1994). SelectedPublications  Thurstone,L.L.(1924/1973).TheNatureofIntelligence. London: Routledge. Thurstone,L.L.(1934).Thevectorsofthemind. AddressofthepresidentbeforetheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,Chicagomeeting,September,1933.FirstpublishedinPsychologicalReview,41,1-32. Thurstone,L.L.(1938).Primarymentalabilities.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress. Thurstone,L.L.(1947). Multiple-FactorAnalysis. Chicago: UniversityofChicagoPress.  Thurstone,L.L.,&Thurstone,T.G.(1941).Factorialstudiesofintelligence.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress. References Ruzgis,P.(1994). Thustone,L.L.(1887-1955). InR.J.Sternberg(Ed.). Encyclopediaofhumanintelligence(pp.1081-1084). NewYork: Macmillan. Spearman,C.E.(1904).‘Generalintelligence’objectivelydeterminedandmeasured.AmericanJournalofPsychology,15,201-293. Thurstone,L.L.(1924/1973).TheNatureofIntelligence. London: Routledge. Thurstone,L.L.(1938).Primarymentalabilities.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress. ImageCourtesyoftheNationalLibraryofMedicine L.L.ThurstonePsychometricLaboratory Home|Interactive Map|AlphabeticIndex|Time PeriodIndex HotTopics|Map-PDF|References|Contributors|Comments Forfurtherinformationpleasecontact Contentquestions:Dr.Jonathan Plucker(jpluckerATjhu.edu) Technicalquestions:TechnicalCo-Director(intelltheoryATgmail.com) Copyright©2016 LastModified: 29April2018