Concept, Nature & Factor Theories of Intelligence

1. Concept, Nature & Factor Theories of
Intelligence
Mr. Satyabrata Dash
Guest Faculty
P.G. Department of Education
Email:satyabratadash228@gmail.com

2. Question Arises
Who’s more intelligent ?
An engineer who is designing a bridge, a manager motivating
his staff, a professor teaching a class, a violin player in a
symphony, an author writing a story, an African Bushman
finding water in the desert ?

3. Answer to the previous Questions
Intelligence is an inborn ability of an individual, the
distribution of intelligence is not equal among all human and
living beings. There is wide individual difference that exists
among individuals with regard to intelligence.

4. Intelligence
Intelligence is derived from the Latin verb “Intelligere” which
means to comprehend or perceive.
It is Perceived that ‘‘Intelligence’’ imparts positive feelings,
encourages self esteem and a sense of worth.
The Oxford Dictionary explains ‘Intelligence as the power of
perceiving, learning, understanding, and knowing’.
Alfred Binet was one of the first psychologists who worked on
intelligence. He defined intelligence as the ability to judge well,
understand well and reason well.

5. Weschler (1977) a renowned psychologist defined as
“Intelligence is the global and aggregate capacity of an
individual to think rationally, act purposefully and to deal
effectively with his/her environment.”
In the words of Cyril Burt, “Intelligence is the capacity of
flexible adjustment.”
Lewis Terman (1921) “The ability to carry on abstract
thinking.”
In simple words, intelligence is nothing but thinking skills
and the ability to adapt to and to learn from life’s everyday
experiences.
Intelligence in computers or other machines is
called artificial intelligence.

6. Nature
The nature of Intelligence are the followings:
Intelligence is an innate natural gift of the child.
It helps the child in maximizing learning in minimum period
of time.
The child is able to predict the future and plan accordingly.
He develops a sense of discrimination between right or
wrong.
The developmental period of intelligence is from birth to
adolescence.

7. There is a minor difference in the development of
intelligence between boys and girls.
There are individual differences with regard to the
intelligence between boys and girls.
 Intelligence is mostly determined by heredity but a suitable
environment necessary to improve it.

8. One factor/UNI /Mono factor Theory
French Psychologist (1857-1911)
Father of Intelligence Test

9. Intelligence is composed of a single element that applies to
all of a person's behavior.
“Common Sense," is the foundation upon which Alfred
Binet founded his intelligence test.
Since it goes against the common observation that ‘‘an
individual does possess different levels of different abilities
and does not shine equally in all directions’’—it has no
ground to stand.

10. Two Factor Theory
(Charles Edward Spearman, USA)
(1863 –1945)

11. It was developed in 1904 by Spearman
Performance = General factor + Specific factor

12. Characteristics of ‘G'
'G' is universal and inborn ability.
‘G' varies from person to person but in a person it is
constant.
‘G' is common in all life activities.
‘G' is responsible for success in life.
Whenever we talk of testing intelligence, we actually mean
to measure ‘G' with the help of intelligence test.

13. Characteristics of 'S'
'S' is learnt and acquired in the environment.
'S' is closely associated with the aptitude of person.
'S' varies from person to person.

14. Multi Factor Theory
Edward Lee Thorndike
American Psychologist
(1874 – 1949)

15. Given by Thorndike
Intelligence has several factors
He believed that there was nothing like General Ability. Our
mental activity requires an aggregate of different set of
abilities.

16. Thorndike's Multi Factor Theories
He distinguished the following four attributes of intelligence.
(a) Level—refers to the level of difficulty of a task that can be
solved.
(b) Area—means the total number of situations at each level to
which the individual is able to respond.
(c) Range—refers to a number of tasks at any given degree of
difficulty.
(d) Speed- refers to the rapidity with which we can respond to
the time

17. THURSTONE’S THEORY OF INTELLIGENCE
Louis Leon Thurstone
American Psychologist
(1887 –1955)

18. Louis Leon Thurstone suggested that intelligence is a
composite of seven (07) distinct primary mental abilities
(PMA)
Thurstone (1935) pointed out that intelligence consists of a
number of primary mental abilities.
He recognized the diversity of human abilities.

19. Primary Mental Abilities (07 Types)
Numerical
Verbal
Spatial
Memory
Word
Fluency
Inductive
Reasoning
Perceptual
Speed

20. 1. Numerical Ability: The ability to solve arithmetic problems
2. Verbal Comprehension: The ability of reading comprehension;
define and understand words, concepts, ideas
3. Spatial Relations : The ability to visualize and manipulate different
geometric patterns, forms and imaginary objects in space.
4. Memory: The ability to memorize and recall.
5. Fluency: The ability to produce words rapidly.
6. Inductive Reasoning: The ability to find rules or the logical
reasoning ability
7. Perceptual Speed: The ability to visualize details rapidly.

21. References:
• Retrieved from https://ncert.nic.in/ncerts/l/lepy101.pdf
• https://gcwgandhinagar.com/econtent/document/1587719272Meaning,%20Nature
%20and%20Characteristics%20of%20Intelligence%20_%20John%20Parankimali
l.pdf
• https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/65119/3/Unit-3.pdf
• http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/S000573AE/P001804/
M027201/LM/1518003504References_BasicconceptsofIntelligence.pdf

22. Thank You