3.3 Spearman Two Factor Theory of intelligence Continued

The theory is based on · The theory concluded that intelligence is made up of two components g-factor (general intelligence) and s-factors (a collection of ... eContentdevelopmentprojectfundedbyNMEICT,MHRD EP Spearman’sTwoFactorTheoryofIntelligenceContinued... Socialawareness,numericalabilityandproblemsolvingarenotalwaysagoodindicatorofwhethersomeoneisintelligentornotandneitherareconfidenceandaverageacademicperformance.LetusknowabouttheSpearman'sTwoFactorTheoryofIntelligence.    Introduction Thedegreeofintelligenceofanindividualcanbeunderstoodbyone’sperceivedbehaviour.Sohowdoweunderstandhowintelligenceoperates?Whatisitthatmakesaperson‘intelligent’or‘unintelligent’? Thesequestionscanbeansweredbycomprehendingthetheoriesofintelligence,whichgiveaninsightintothecomponentsorelementsofintelligence. InthistopicwewilllearnabouttheSpearman’stwofactortheory. Spearman’sTwo-FactorTheory SpearmanproposedthisTwo-Factortheoryofintelligencein1904.Thetheoryisbasedonfactoranalysis,whichisastatisticalprocedurethatcorrelatestestscorestoidentifyunderlyingclusters,orfactors.Heusedfactoranalysistoexaminerelationshipsbetweenpeople’sscoresondifferenttestsorsub-testsofintelligence.Heconcludedthatpeoplewhodowellonsomeintelligencetestsalsodowellonothers.Conversely,ifpeopledopoorlyonanintelligencetest,theyalsotendedtodopoorlyonotherintellectualtests.Thisledhimtobelievethatthereareoneormorefactorsthatarecommontoallintellectualtasks. Onthebasisofhisresearch,hepromotesthateachindividualactivityinvolvesageneralfactor‘g’whichitshareswithallintellectualactivities.Apartfrom‘g’,italsosharesaspecificfactor‘s’whichbelongstoaspecificabilityofthatindividualtodealwithspecificproblems.(e.g.vocabulary,mathematics,spatialabilities) ‘g’belongstothegeneralintelligencewhichisacommonthreadthatrunthroughallthetasksthattheindividualperformsthroughthecourseofhislife.Thequantityofthis‘g’dependsontheamountofcerebralcortexenergypresentandthemaximumquantumofthisispredetermined.Towhatextentanindividualusesthisenergydependsontheenvironment,upbringing,education,friend-circle,motivation,etcthatitreactswhensubjectedto. Apartfromthisgeneralfactor‘g’,anindividualmayhaveaspecificabilitytodealwithaparticularsituation/problem.Thisspecificabilitycanbegivenass1,s2,s3etc. Thetotalabilityorintelligence'A'ofanindividual,thus,canbeexpressedbythefollowingequation: g+s1+s2+s3+...=A IllustrationofSpearman'stwo-factorintelligencetheory. Eachspecificability‘s”sharethegeneralfactor“g”. Forexample,anindividualwhoisanIITgraduatecouldalsobeagoodwriterandendupbeinganauthor,aneditororacolumnist.Anastronautcouldalsohavespecificsingingabilities.Thustheengineerhasageneralfactorintelligence‘g’andaspecificability‘s1’tocracktheCETandhenceendedupbeinganIITgraduate,andsoisthecasewiththeastronaut. Thistwo-factortheoryofSpearmanhasbeencriticizedonvariousgrounds: Spearmanheldthatintelligencemaybeexpressedintermsoftwofactors,butaswehaveseenabove,therearenotonlytwobutseveralfactors(g,s\,s2,s3...). AccordingtoSpearman,eachjobrequiressomespecificability.Thisviewwasuntenableasitimpliedthatthereisnothingcommontodifferentjobsexceptageneralfactorandprofessionssuchasthoseofnurses,compoundersanddoctorscouldnotbeputinonegroup.Infact,thefactorss1+s2+s3...arenotmutuallyexclusive.Theyoverlapandgiverisetocertaincommon Exercise Selecttheappropriateoption. AccordingtoSpearman,theperformanceofan individualinanysituationandindifferentintellectualactivitiesdependson ____________.    Generalfactor Specificfactors Generalfactorandspecificfactors Incorrect!Theperformanceofanindividualinanysituationispredicted bytheamountofshareofgeneralandspecificfactorsindifferent intellectualactivities. Incorrect!Theperformanceofanindividualinanysituationispredicted bytheamountofshareofgeneralandspecificfactorsindifferent intellectualactivities. Correct!Theperformanceofanindividualinanysituationispredicted bytheamountofshareofgeneralandspecificfactorsindifferent intellectualactivities. Exercise Fromthegiven statements,identifywhichofthefollowingaretrueaccordingto Spearman’stwofactortheory. The theoryisbasedonfactoranalysis,whichisastatisticalprocedure thatcorrelatestestscorestoidentifyunderlyingclusters,orfactors. True False Correct! Incorrect! Thetheoryconcludedthatintelligenceismadeup oftwocomponentsg-factor(generalintelligence)ands-factors(acollection ofspecificcognitiveintellectualskills). True False Correct! Incorrect! Thespecific factorsarelargelyinbornabilities. True False Incorrect! Correct! Thespecific factor's'areacquiredfromtheenvironmentanditvariesfromactivitytoactivityinandindividual. Thegeneralfactor‘g’isacquiredfromthe environmentanditvariesfromactivitytoactivityinthesameindividual. True False Incorrect! Correct! Thegeneralfactor ‘g’isuniversalinbornability.Greaterthe‘g’inanindividualleadsto greatersuccessinlife.   DesignedandDevelopedbyDepartmentofEducationalTechnology,SNDTWomen'sUniversity,Mumbai