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____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Subject PSYCHOLOGY Paper No and Title Paper No 1: Cognitive Science Module No and Title Module No 25: Human Intelligence - I Module Tag PSY_P1_M25 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Learning Outcomes 2. Introduction 3. What do you mean by human intelligence? 4. Theories of human intelligence 4.1. Spearman’s two-factor theory 4.2. Thurstone and the specific mental abilities 4.3. Cattell and Horn’s theory 4.4. Carroll’s Three-Stratum Model 4.5. Sternberg’s triarchic theory 4.6. Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence 4.7. Mayer-Salovey-Caruso’s structure of emotional intelligence 5. Neurocognition in intelligence 5.1. What do you understand by neurocognitive psychology? 5.2. What role does neurocognition play in intelligence? 6. Summary PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Learning 1. Learning Outcomes After studying this module, you shall be able to: Understand and define human intelligence Understand the historical perspective of intelligence Understand different theories of intelligence Understand the role of neurocognition in human intelligence 2. Introduction The moment we talk about intelligent people, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawkins and Steve Jobs are some of the most frequently occurring names in our minds. But, how do we consider these people intelligent? What do we actually understand by human intelligence? How did the concept of intelligence come into being? What did people infer from intelligence in the historical times? What are the different theories through which we can better understand this concept? Also, what is the significant role of neurocognition in human intelligence? We will be able to fetch answers to all such questions in this module. With the help of various examples we will understand the concept of intelligence, its emergence, theories and the role of neurocognition. Fig. 1. Stephen Hawking, British cosmologist PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. What do you mean by Human Intelligence? For more than a century, many of the psychologists and researchers have been trying to formulate the most agreeable definition of human intelligence, but in vain. In our discussion, we would dwell on the following definition given by American psychologist David Wechsler, “Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with his or her environment (Wechsler, 1944, p. 3)”. Let’s consider an example wherein, Sara has to complete her school assignment which is to be submitted the next day and her computer is not working. In such a situation, rather than crying over the computer, she walks over to the cyber café to complete her assignment. Can we say Sara is intelligent? Yes, because she thought rationally and acted purposefully to solve her problem. She also dealt effectively with her environment. Thus, intelligence is majorly about cognitive processes, which involve problem solving, using higher-order mental processes and memory. Now, intelligence is an ability possessed by each human being, but differs from person to person. These individual differences are what attract researchers to study about it. Thus, the concept of intelligence majorly focuses on two areas- individual differences in intelligence and assessment of intelligence. As we have studied about these two areas in the previous module, we would now move backward in the historical times and focus on how this concept emerged. 4. Theories of Human Intelligence As we studied in the previous section, human intelligence cannot be confined to merely verbal mental competencies, but also the non-verbal ones. Wechsler emphasized intelligence to be a group of two distinct but related mental abilities. But what does a layman understand of these verbal and non-verbal competencies? To broaden the nature and understanding of intelligence, various theories have been developed by the psychologists, about which we would be reading in the following sections. 4.1 Spearman’s Two-Factor Theory Charles Edward Spearman (1863-1945) was an English psychologist, who advanced the two-factor theory in 1927. In his theory, he stated that intelligence consists of two factors, namely ‘g’ factor and ‘s’ factor. He described ‘g’ factor as the general intelligence, which refers to the overall score obtained in an intelligence test. Spearman used the statistical technique of factor analysis to identify different clusters (such as, PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ verbal and mathematical reasoning) under which lie the highly correlating behaviours, and thus defined the specific mental abilities. For instance, Ana and Peter took an intelligence test which consisted of 20 items, having 10 verbal and 10 mathematical reasoning based items. Both of them answered 80% of the items correctly and hence, have the same level of general intelligence. However, when analysed closely, it was found that Ana answered 100% of the mathematical reasoning items correctly and 75% of the verbal reasoning items correctly. On the other hand, Peter was found to answer 75% of the mathematical reasoning items correctly and 100% of the verbal reasoning items correctly. Thus, even if Ana and Peter have same level of general intelligence, they don’t possess same specific mental abilities. Ana clearly has a higher ability on the domain of mathematical reasoning, whereas Peter has higher verbal reasoning capacity. Fig. 8. Spearman’s theory stated that general intelligence consisted of specific mental abilities which differs from person to person 4.2 Thurstone and the Specific Mental Abilities Louis Leon Thurstone (1887-1955) was a pioneer in the fields of psychophysics and psychometrics. He proposed the Multiple-Factor Theory, denying the importance of PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ general intelligence, as he believed that it minimizes the importance of specific abilities which constitutes the human intelligence. Like Spearman, Thurstone also used factor analysis to identify 7 specific mental abilities by forming clusters. These abilities were: Verbal comprehension: the ability to read, define and understand words Number: the ability to apply arithmetic operations and, understand and solve arithmetic problems Word fluency: the ability to produce words fluently Spatial visualization: the ability to mentally visualize objects (e.g., 3-D objects) Associative memory: the ability to associate unrelated items and the skill of memorizing and recalling Inductive reasoning: the ability to identify the problems and their rules and reason the solution Perceptual speed: the ability to perceive the similarities and differences of the objects 4.3 Cattell and Horn’s Theory Raymond Cattell (1905-1998) proposed a theory of the structure of intelligence in 1941, which was revised and extended by John L. Horn (1929-2006) in 1965. Cattell and Horn used the statistical technique of factor analysis to breakdown Spearman’s ‘g’ factor and identify two major factors of intelligence, which they named Crystallized intelligence (gc) and Fluid intelligence (gf). Crystallized intelligence is defined as the ability to use previously acquired knowledge to solve current problems and deal with his or her environment. For example, Kiara was given a mathematical problem by her tuition teacher to be solved within half an hour. She used the formulae learnt in the previous class to solve the given problem. Thus, she used her crystallized intelligence for solving the problem. Fluid intelligence is defined as the ability to reason or solve current problems by producing novel and innovative ideas. This part of intelligence doesn’t require previously learnt information to deal with current situations. For example, it was the use of their fluid intelligence, i.e. creative thinking, which lead the Wright Brothers to the invention of airplane. Thus, fluid intelligence simply means the ability to think differently and uniquely. PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4.4 Carroll’s Three Stratum Model American psychologist John Bissell Carroll (1916-2003) proposed a model of intelligence in 1993, in which he gave three layers of intelligence. It was based on the factor-analytic study of 460 different sets of data acquired by researchers around the world between the years 1935 to 1980. This model consists of the contents of all the three: Spearman’s, Thurstones’s and Cattell-Horn’s theory. The three layers or stratums of cognitive ability this model consists of are: general, broad and narrow, set in a hierarchical manner. PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence - I ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ PSYCHOLOGY PAPER No. 1: Cognitive Science MODULE No. 25: Human Intelligence