L. L. Thurstone - New World Encyclopedia

Theory of Intelligence Articles About Citethispage Feedback L.L.Thurstone FromNewWorldEncyclopediaJumpto:navigation,search Previous(L.FrankBaum)Next(LaPaz) LouisLeonThurstone(May29,1887–September29,1955)wasaU.S.pioneerinpsychometricsandaninfluentialtheoristofintelligence.Hecontributedgreatlytothemeasurementofattitudes,andiswellknownforhiscontributionstofactoranalysis. Contents 1Life 2Work 2.1FactorAnalysis 2.2TheoryofIntelligence 2.3ComparativeJudgmentScale 3Legacy 4Majorpublications 5References 6Externallinks 7Credits Thestudyofintelligencehasbeenfraughtwithcontroversy,particularlyinrelationtotheevaluationofgroupsasof"higher"or"lower"intelligencethanothers.Thurstone'sworkemphasizeddifferenttypesofintelligence,ratherthanfocusingonasinglefactorofgeneralintelligence,andthusbetterrecognizesthediversityofhumanabilities.Thustone'sattitudinalscalewasveryinfluentialinencouragingothers,suchasGuttmanandCoombs,todeveloppracticalscalingproceduresinthesocialsciences.Thus,hiswork,whilenotprovidingacompleteunderstandingofhumannature,offeredanumberofsignificantadvances. Life LouisLeonThurstonewasborninChicago,IllinoisonMay29,1887,totwoSwedishimmigrants,ConradandSophiaThunstrom.ThefamilyeventuallychangedthelastnametoThurstonetoavoidconfusionofpronunciationandspelling.Thefirst14yearsofLouis’slifewastransientashisfatherchangedcareersseveraltimes.ThecareerchangestookthefamilyfirstfromChicagotoasmalltowninIllinois(Berwyn),thentoMississippi.FromMississippi,thefamilymovedtoSwedenwheretheystayedforalmostsixyears.Whenhewasfourteen,thefamilysettledinJamestown,NewYorkState. Helaterreportedthatmovingaroundhadapositiveeffectonhimashereceivedamulticulturaleducation.Bygoingtodifferentschoolsindifferentcountries,hecouldcomparethegoalsofeducationthateachcountryoffered.Throughthiscomparison,henoticedthattheheroesofthestoriestaughtinschoolwerealwaysofthesamenationalityastheteacher.Fromthisexperience,hereflectedonwhetherthesocialsciencescouldbeandshouldbestudiedfromamoreobjectivepointofview. YoungThurstonewasveryadeptatacademics.HepublishedforthefirsttimeattheageofsixteeninthejournalScientificAmerica.ThisjournalarticleexplainedhowthehydroelectricplantsattheNiagaraFallscouldbeconstructedsothattheydidnotinterferewiththenaturalbeautyofthefalls.Hissecondarticlewaspublishedatageeighteen,againintheScientificAmerica.Itwasbasedonworkhehaddoneasahighschoolstudent. ThurstonestudiedengineeringatCornellUniversitybeginningin1908.StudyingmachinedesignleadThurstonetoafascinationwiththehumanfactorimpliedinalldesign.Thiswasthebeginningofhisinterestinpsychology.AnotherexperienceencouraginghisinterestinpsychologywasworkingwithThomasA.Edison.EdisonhadheardaboutThurstoneinventinganinnovativemotionpictureprojectorandofferedhimaninternship. TwoofThurstone’sbiographersagreedthatworkingwithEdisonwasthebeginningofThurston’sinterestinpsychology.AccordingtoA.R.Jensen,itwasatEdisonlaboratorythatThurstonebecameinterestedinaudioperception.AccordingtoDorothyAdkinsWood,ThurstonewasverymuchinterestedinEdison’suniqueproblemsolvingability.DidEdison’sproblemsolvingstemfromhisgeniusordidhisgeniusstemfromhisproblemsolving?Thurston’sinterestinPsychologyleadhimtograduateschoolwhereheearnedhisMaster’sdegreeinPsychologyatage24. For18years,ThurstoneworkedattheCarnegieInstituteofTechnologyintheDivisionofAppliedPsychology.HewasthereattheonsetofWorldWarI.AthoughhetriedtoenlistintheArmy,hewasnotacceptedduetoaphysicalproblem.However,hedidhelptheArmybyadaptingintelligenceteststohelpinrecruitingandtraining. In1923,ThurstonwenttoWashingtonDCtoworkongovernmentcontracts.Theyearandahalfwasnotveryfruitful,butwhilehewastherehemetandmarriedThelmaGwinn.AfteracceptingtheAssociateProfessorofPsychologypositionattheUniversityofChicago,hemovedwithhiswifetoChicagowheretheylivedforthenext28years.ThelastthreeyearsofhislifewerespentattheUniversityofNorthCarolinaIntelligenceLaboratorynamedafterhim.HediedinSeptemberof1955fromheartfailure. Work Thurstone'smaincontributionstopsychologyandpsychometricsarehismethodoffactoranalysis,histheoryofintelligence,andhiscomparativejudgmentscale. FactorAnalysis AlthoughCharlesSpearmaniscreditedwithinventingfactoranalysis,Thurstoneistheonewhofirstcoinedtheterm.Inaddition,Thurstoneisrecognizedastheinventorofexploratoryfactoranalysis,amorepracticalvariationthantheconfirmatoryfactoranalysisofSpearman.ThegoalofThurstone’smodelistodeterminethenumberofmeaningfulcommonfactorsinacorrelationmatrix.Thisproducessimplestructuresthataccountsformanyofthecorrelationsobservedamongthefactors.Exploratoryfactoranalysisdeterminesthenumberandthenatureoflatentconstructswithinasetofobservedvariables.Analyzingthecorrelatedfactorscanrankthefactorsinorderofimportancetothecorrelation.Thus,exploratoryfactoranalysisisimportanttoolindetermininghierarchyoffactorssuchasthecontributorstointelligence. TheoryofIntelligence Thurstone’stheoryofintelligencecenteredontheexistenceofPrimaryMentalAbilities(PMA).HisapproachwasindirectcontrastwithSpearman’stheoryofgeneralintelligence.Thurstonefeltthatdifferencesintheresultsofintellectualtaskscouldbeattributedtooneormoreofsevenindependentabilities.ThesesevenabilitieswerenamedSpace,VerbalComprehension,WordFluency,NumberFacility,Induction,PerceptualSpeed,Deduction,RoteMemory,andArithmeticReasoning. TheSpacePMArepresentstheabilitytorecognizethattwoshapesarethesamewhenonehasbeenrotated.PerceptualSpeedistheabilitytorecognizesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenpairsofstimuli.VerbalComprehensioninvolvesrecognizingsynonymsandantonyms.Inductionrequiresestablishingaruleorpatternwithinagivenset.Deductioninvolvesdrawingalogicalinferencefromasetoffactsorpremises. Thurstone’stheorywaswellsupportedbyhisearlyresearchwhenthesubjectswereUniversityofChicagoundergraduates.Itdidnotholdupwhenhetestedschoolagedchildren.Apparently,themoreintellectuallyelitesubjectsattheUniversityofChicagodidnotdifferverymuchontheirgeneralintelligence.TheirobservabledifferenceswerenotedamongthePMAs.Thegradeschoolchildrenweremorediverseintheirgeneralintelligence.Therefore,thedifferencesamongtheirPMAswerenotasnotableasthedifferencesamongtheirgeneralintelligence. ComparativeJudgmentScale Inpsychology,the'Thurstonescale'wasthefirstformaltechniqueformeasuringanattitude.ItwasdevelopedbyThurstonein1928,asameansofmeasuringattitudestowardsreligion.Itismadeupofstatementsaboutaparticularissue,andeachstatementhasanumericalvalueindicatinghowfavorableorunfavorableitisjudgedtobe.Peoplecheckeachofthestatementstowhichtheyagree,andameanscoreiscomputed,indicatingtheirattitude. ThismethodologicalcontributionofThurstonehasbeennotedasoneofthefirstattemptsatdevelopingacomparativejudgmentscalingtechnique.Thismethodofmeasuringattitudesonanintervalscaleallowedstatementsrelatedtoanattitudetoberankedinreferencetoeachother.Theextremeoppositesoftheattitudeandtheopinionsrepresentingtheequally-distancedstepsinbetweentheoppositescouldbeestablished. Thisrankscalecanbeusedtorankallpossiblefeelingsrelatedtoanissueandtocategorizepeopleexpressinganopinionbasedontherankofthatopinion.Itisusedtodaymainlyinbasicresearch.Mostresearchersacknowledgethat,whileitisveryaccurate,itistoocomplexforappliedsettings. Legacy Thurstone’stheoryofintelligencewasamajorinfluenceonlatertheoriesofmultipleintelligences,suchasthoseofGuilford,Gardner,andSternberg.Guilforddevelopedathree-dimensionalmodelofintelligencecomposedofcontents,operations,andprocesses.ThismodelreliedontheinteractionsofvariousfactorssimilartotheinteractionsofthecorrelationoffactorsinThurstone’stheory.AlthoughGardner’smultipleintelligencesdidnotperfectlyintersectwithThurstone’sPMAs,boththeoriessupportapracticaldefinitionofintelligence.Sternbergemphasizedspeedofperceptionandthepracticalapplicationofinductivereasoningasanimportantpartofhistriarchictheoryofintelligence. Thurstone'sattitudinalscalewasveryinfluentialinencouragingothers,suchasGuttmanandCoombs,todeveloppracticalscalingproceduresinthesocialsciences. TheearlycontroversiesraisedbyThurstoneleadtotheeffectivenessoffactoranalysisand,particularlymultiplefactoranalysis,usedtoday.HisinfluenceisseeninthedevelopmentoftheMinresmethodandKaiser'sverimaxmethod,bothfoundeduponmultiplefactoranalysis. Majorpublications Thurstone,L.L.1927a."AlawofComparativeJudgement,"PsychologicalReview,34,278-286. Thurstone,L.L.1927b."Themethodofpairedcomparisonsforsocialvalues,"JournalofAbnormalandSocialPsychology,21,384-400. Thurstone,L.L.1928."Attitudescanbemeasured,"AmericanJournalofSociology,33,529-54. Thurstone,L.L.1929.TheMeasurementofPsychologicalValue.InT.V.SmithandW.K.Wright(eds.),EssaysinPhilosophybySeventeenDoctorsofPhilosophyoftheUniversityofChicago.Chicago,IL:OpenCourt. Thurstone,L.L.1935.TheVectorsoftheMind:Multiple-FactorAnalysisForTheIsolationOfPrimaryTraits.Chicago,IL:UniversityofChicagoPress. Thurstone,L.L.1947.Multiple-factorAnalysis:ADevelopmentandExpansionofTheVectorsoftheMind.Chicago,IL:UniversityofChicagoPress. Thurstone,L.L.1959.TheMeasurementofValues.Chicago,IL:TheUniversityofChicagoPress. ReferencesISBNlinkssupportNWEthroughreferralfees Babbie,E.ThePracticeofSocialResearch,tenthedition.Wadsworth,ThomsonLearningInc.ISBN0534620299 Dawes,R.M.1994.Psychologicalmeasurement.PsychologicalReview,101,278-281. Edwards,A.L.Techniquesofattitudescaleconstruction.NewYork:Appleton-Century-Crofts,1957. Glover,J.A.andR.R.Ronning.1987.Historicalfoundationsofeducationalpsychology.NewYork:PlenumPress. Guilford,J.P.1954.Psychometricmethods.NewYork:McGraw-Hill. Harman,H.H.1976.Modernfactoranalysis,thirdeditionrevised.UniversityofChicagoPress. Jensen,A.R.LouisLeonThurstone.1887-1955,inCorsiniencyclopediaofpsychologyandbehavioralsciences,thirdedition,volume4.W.EdwardCraigheadandCharlesB.Nemeroff,(eds.).NewYork:JohnWiley&Sons. Kail,R.,andJ.W.Pelligrino.1985.Humanintelligence:Perspectivesandprospects.NewYork:W.H.FreemanandCompany. Kerlinger,F.N.1986.Foundationsofbehavioralresearch.Chicago:Holt,Rhinehart,andWinston,Inc. Krus,D.J.,andP.H.Kennedy.1977.Normalscalingofdominancematrices:Thedomain-referencedmodelEducationalandPsychologicalMeasurement,37,189-193.RetrievedJanuary21,2008. Krus,D.J.,J.L.Sherman,andP.H.Kennedy.1977.Changingvaluesoverthelasthalf-century:thestoryofThurstone'scrimescalesPsychologicalReports,40,207-211RetrievedJanuary21,2008. Luce,R.D.1959.IndividualChoiceBehaviours:ATheoreticalAnalysis.NewYork:J.Wiley. Michell,J.1997.Quantitativescienceandthedefinitionofmeasurementinpsychology.BritishJournalofPsychology,88,355-383. Wood,D.A.1962.LouisLeonThurstone:Creativethinker,dedicatedteacher,eminentpsychologist.Princeton,NJ:EducationalTestingService. Externallinks AlllinksretrievedJune17,2018. 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