Rust and Golombok (2014) suggest that psychometrics play an increasingly significant role in an individual’s life, as assessment and testing occurs from nursery until retirement. The nomothetic and idiographic debate is one of the main discussions within psychology; the nomothetic approach focuses on studying what individuals share with one and other such as law, whereas the idiographic approach is concerned with what makes the individual unique. Lewis and Crozier (2012) believe that psychometrics is a standardised test that evaluates the individual’s critical thinking abilities and personality using a variety of evaluation tools. Within the nomothetic approach, psychometric tests are used as part of the research as quantitative measures are …show more content…
Intelligence is having the ability to have reason and logic, the act of understanding and having the capability to apply aspects of knowledge and skill to everyday life. Throughout psychological research there are many psychometric theorists with a range of significant theories for intelligence, examples include; Charles Spearman and his theory of ‘g’ in 1927, Cattell’s 1963 theory of fluid ‘Gf’ and crystallized intelligence ‘Gc’, John Carroll’s 1997 three tiered model of intelligence, Sternberg’s layperson’s definition, Howard Gardner’s 1983 theory of multiple intelligence and Salovey and Mayer’s 1990 theory of emotional intelligence. Lovie posited the idea that Charles Spearman’s early statistical contributions are regarded as “the earliest version of a factor analysis” (Dreary et al, 2008, p. 2). Spearman’s many works on human intelligence differences include the paper where he discovered the general factor in human intelligence and his accounts of the measurement of human …show more content…
Spearman also believed that the performance of any test of mental ability called for the use of a specific ability factor he titled ‘s’, examples include; being logical, spatial, arithmetical and mechanical. Spearman also believed that all intelligent abilities have an area of overlap which is what he called ‘g’ and this is also dependent on the ‘s’ factor, but general ability is dominant when doing tasks. An advantage of Spearman’s theory of ‘g’ is that it is a good predictor of performance in an academic setting such as a school environment as it is objectively defined and measured by an IQ score; this can also be used in later life in a work environment as it can also predict performance in certain careers. Beaujean (2015) suggests that many theorists who did not deny the existence of ‘g’ wanted to do further research to extend this theory so it will account for group factors, an example of this is the theorist John Carroll and his 1997 Three-Stratum Theory of Intelligence. This theory is a hierarchal theory that is a compromise between the general and distinct abilities views of
Describe how these theories differ in regard to the ever-reversing role of general intellectual ability factor (g).
Sternberg, R. J., Grigorenko, E. L., & Kidd, K. K. (2005). Intelligence, race, and genetics. American Psychologist, 60, 46-59.
Howard Gardner’s theory contains eight main multiple intelligence. As the years have progressed there have taken one out and is left with the main seven. These seven are: Linguistic, Mathematical, Spatial, bodily, Musical, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. These are found in everyone; however, each person will excel in one or two. Once teachers can determine what intelligence the students will exceed on and teach to their strengths the student will learn much more.
Intelligence tests have been developed by scientists as a tool to categorize army recruits or analyze school children. But still discussing what intelligence is, academics have a difficult time defining what intelligence tests should measure. According to the American researcher Thorndike, intelligence is only that what intelligence tests claim it is (Comer, Gould, & Furnham, 2013). Thus, depending on what is being researched in the test and depending on the scientist’s definition of intelligence the meaning of the word intelligence may vary a lot. This essay will discuss what intelligence is in order to be able to understand the intelligence theories and aims of intelligence tests.
Charles Spearman's model of intelligence and Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory are two of the most widely used theories of intelligence. In order to understand how similar the two theories are we must first understand their differences. These two men differed in opinion on how IQ and intelligence should be measured, and they differed in opinion on what made a person "smart". In order to examine these things they first had to understand the human brain and how it works. They had to examine the human study habits and rituals, along with the human test taking habits.
In the following essay, we discuss different theoretical perspectives from Nomothetic and Idiographic approach. How they apply to both Personality (pattern of behavior and thinking) and Intelligence (thinking and behavior). Arguments for both sides are base on what psychologists generally use them as, because some might disagrees with the usage of the word nomothetic and idiographic, orientated by Kantian and Wilhelm Windelband.
In this world, there are many different individuals who are not only different in demographics but also different neurologically. Due to an immense amount of people it is important to first understand each individual, in order, to better understand them and to help them when it comes to certain areas such as education, the work force, and etc…. For this reason psychologists have aimed to further understand individuals through the use of psychological assessments. This paper aims to examine a particular assessment tool, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales (Fifth Edition), which measures both intelligence and cognitive abilities (Roid, 2003). This assessment is usually administered by psychologists and the scores are most often used to determine placement in academics and services allotted to children and adolescents (despite their compatibility for adults) (Wilson & Gilmore, 2012). Furthermore before the investigation dives into the particulars of the test, such as its strengths and weakness’, it is best to first learn more about the intelligence scales general characteristics.
“Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory.” Public Broadcasting Service. Public Broadcasting Service, 2014. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
In a 1921 symposium entitled “Intelligence and Its Measurement”, psychiatrists were asked to define intelligence and their answers varied greatly. One described intelligence as “equivalent to the capacity to learn.” Other definitions included “the ability to adapt adequately to relatively new situations”, “the capacity to learn or profit from experience”, and “the knowledge that an individual possesses.” And one stated that there was no simple definition to the word because “intelligence involves two factors- the capacity for knowledge and knowledge possessed” (Sternberg & Detterman, 1986, p.39-40).
On the ‘nature’ side of the debate is the psychometric approach, considered to be the most dominant in the study of intelligence, which “inspired the most research and attracted the most attention” (Neisser et al. 1996, p. 77). It argues that there is one general (‘g’) factor which accounts for intelligence. In the 1880s, Francis Galton conducted many tests (measuring reaction times to cognitive tasks), (Boundless 2013), in order to scientifically measure intelligence. These tests were linked to the eugenic breeding programme, which aimed to eliminate biologically inferior people from society. Galton believed that as intelligence was inherited, social class or position were significant indicators of intelligence. If an individual was of high social standing, they would be more intelligent than those of a lower position. However he failed to show any consistency across the tests for this hypothesis, weakening his theory that social class correlated with intelligence. Nevertheless, his creation of the intelligence test led many to continue to develop...
...ns of the different intelligences educators could define the type each of their students are and find or create unique learning styles to help them grow in those in areas and also to help see the intelligences that they may lack in. I believe Dr. Gardner’s theory is a great to see ourselves and other people around us. Seeing these differences in people helps us to adjust our style of communication depending on the person that we are speaking with.
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence focuses more on how numerical expressions of human intelligence are not a full and accurate depiction of people’s abilities (McFarlane, 2011). He includes and describes eight intelligences that are based on skills and abilities that are valued within different cultures. The eight intelligences include visual-spatial (e.g. sailor navigating with no navigational systems), verbal-linguistic (e.g. poets, writers, orators, and communicators), bodily-kinesthetic (e.g. dancers, athletes, surgeons, craftspeople), logical-mathematical (e.g. mathematicians and logicians), interpersonal(e.g. salespeople, teachers, clinicians, politicians, and religious leaders), musical (e.g. musicians and
In 1983, Howard Gardner a Harvard professor proposed the theory that individual can have multiple ways of learning and processing information. The multiple intelligences consist of 9 different ways and these include: verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, existential, musical, naturalistic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Every individual has a different amount of each intelligence but each intelligence is at a varying level. With the help of a multiple intelligences assessment, I found that my top three multiple intelligences are Intrapersonal, logical, and interpersonal. Within his research Gardner says that “Intrapersonal intelligence refers to people’s ability to recognize and assess those same characteristics
Since before 1900’s intelligence was the single most important aspect to achieving success and determining future ambitions. This is shown through Intellectual Quotient test commonly known as IQ tests. Tanner (2015) explains that the IQ test was developed by English and French psychologists during the start of World War One. IQ testing was established to decided potential officers from a vast amount of recruits. However, in recent history the theory of intelligence has been challenged due to an article written by William James which question why do some people achieve more than others with matched intelligence? (Duckworth et al. 2007). These sources identify whether character such as perseverance or intellectual ability are important for accomplishing
Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard, introduced his theory of multiple intelligences in 1983. Multiple intelligence’s is a theory about the brain that says human beings are born with single intelligence that cannot be changed, and is measurable by a psychologist. Gardner believes that there are eight different intelligences in humans. The eight are verbal linguistic, visual spatial, bodily kinesthetic, mathematical logic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. Understanding these intelligence’s will help us to design our classroom and curriculum in a way that will appeal to all of our students. We might also be able to curve discipline problems by reaching a student in a different way. One that will make more sense to them and more enjoyable. We can include all of the intelligences in lessons to accommodate all of the students’ different learning styles at once. By reaching each students intelligence we can assume that a student will perform better which, could mean students retaining more important information. A students learning style can also help lead them into a more appropriate career direction. As a teacher you can also learn your own personal learning style or intelligence to help improve the way you learn and teach.