Intelligences

Intelligences

Many people have different opinions of just what intelligence is since there is no commonly accepted definition for it. Some believe the ability to adapt effectively to the environment by changing oneself, changing the environment or finding a new environment is one definition of intelligence, while others believe it is our ability to learn. There are still others who believe that intelligence is our being able to cope with the environment and situations we are presented with. (Team C005704, 2000)

In 1904 British psychologist Charles E. Spearman published the first psychometric theory about intelligence. His theory was that if people did well on one mental ability test, then they would do well on many of the others, and people who did not do well on one, they would not do well on the others. By examining patterns of individual differences in test scores he devised a technique of statistical analysis using his concept. He believed his analysis helped him discover what he believed were the two sources of individual differences. The two differences were the “general factor”, which is our general intellectual ability and a test-specific factor. (Team C005704, 2000)

A theory of “multiple intelligences” was proposed in 1983 by Howard Gardner which argued that there is not a single intelligence but many. He believed that by using a variety of sources like studies of cognitive processing, brain damage, exceptional individuals and cognition between cultures that he could identify what he believed to be seven minimal intelligences. Some of the seven were similar to the abilities proposed by psychometric theorists and some were not. He believes that his seven concepts of intelligence are universal whereas most others are ethnocentric and culturally biased. (Team C005704, 2000)

Gardner got his seven concepts by separating human ability into seven groups based on cognitive-contextual intelligence theory. Gardner’s Seven Intelligences, which they are collectively referred to, are: Physical, Linguistic, Mathematical/Logical, Visual/Spatial, Musical, Inter-Personal and Intra-Personal. He was able to separate human ability because he believes that intelligence is not fixed. His opinion is that intelligence is a set of abilities and skills a human has within themselves that they use to have well balanced learning while promoting creativity and new ways of thinking. (Team C005704, 2000)

Spearman’s and Gardner’s theories were different in the process that intelligence is used. While Spearman believed that you could tell the intelligence of a person by how well or how bad they did on different mental ability tests, Gardner believed that each person’s intelligence depended on the abilities and skills a person has within them. Each of their theories is right to a certain extent for different individuals around the world. Intelligence is measured differently for different people. Some may need the mental tests to evaluate their intelligence whereas others would do better using their seven intelligences

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