Theories of intelligence

Question 1

Explain Cattell (1890) / Galton 1880s and who debunked this.

Answer 1

Developed psychophysical tests which centralised physical ability as well; register of pain, reflex, reaction time, etc.

Wissler (1901) debunked this as they stated that these results did not correlate to academic grades.

Question 2

What did Cattel (1971) propose?

Answer 2

knowledge is split into GF and GC:
- GF: fluid ability; reasoning, problem solving.
- GC: crystallised; specific knowledge, influenced by culture.
Crystallised is the product of fluid.

Question 3

How does Spearman’s theory link to Cattel’s theory?

Answer 3

‘S’ = specific abilities.
‘G’ = general abilities.

This links to Cattel (1971), as G is similar to GF, and S is similar to GC.

Question 4

What does Spearman’s theory propose? Cite the date.

Answer 4

(1927)
- ‘g’ would affect performance on all tests: if someone had high ‘g’, this would mean they are better at everything compared to someone with a lower ‘g’.

Question 5

What was the criticism of Spearman’s theory?

Answer 5

Spearman did not consider factors that could contribute to intelligence, and focused more on close relationships of certain abilities.

Question 6

Adding to Spearman’s theory, who added more onto this?

Answer 6

Gardner in the 1980s went to propose that there are multiple intellgences, all falling under 6 specific categories.

Question 7

What are the 6 categories that Gardner proposed?

Answer 7

• linguistic
• spatial
• musical
• physical
• personal
  He added the last 3, on top of the 4 that was originally speculated.

Question 8

What did Layperson suggest intelligence consisted of?

Answer 8

• Problem solving
• Verbal ability
• Social competence (having character, personality).

Question 9

What are savants?

Answer 9

Savants are people who usually score low on intelligence tests, but have one or more exceptional abilities. These abilities include:
- Musical
- Mathematical
- Drawing

Question 10

What can be said about intelligence in a social cultural context? Cite a study.

Answer 10

Sternberg et al (2007) states that:
- Intelligence definitions can vary between cultures.
- Western cultures emphasise on individual intelligence.
- POC ethnicities emphasise harmonious group relationships.
- Intelligence should be measured with cultural context taken into consideration, rather than as a whole universal unit.