Spearman’s GSpearman Biography

Charles Edward Spearman was born in 1863 from a well-to-do background and entered academic study when psychology was still somewhat in its infancy, being still classed as a branch of philosophy. After leaving a post as an officer in the British army, he began to study in Leipzig and, after a short period back in the army; he studied at University College London. It was whilst he was in Leipzig that he studied under the eminent Wilhelm Max Wundt. Spearman’s work is mostly recognised by his contribution to defining the concept of general intelligence.

Spearman’s Research

Between the years of 1904 and 1927, Charles Spearman worked towards revolutionising the psychology of intelligence.

Spearman conducted research into intelligence testing using children starting from 1904 going on till 1921. The data gathered was analysed for relationships and a factor analysis was performed. The statistical side of his research was completed by 1927.

Spearman's findings suggested that those who performed well on the intelligence tests also performed well on intellectual tests.

The same went for if the performance was poor on the intelligence tests then it was likely the performance would be poor on intellectual tests. Spearman called this positive correlation a 'positive manifold' and it was from this that Spearman proposed his two-factor theory of intelligence.

The first factor of intelligence was specific abilities, or 's'. These included vocabulary intelligence, mathematical intelligence and spatial intelligence. The second factor was general intelligence, or 'g'. This factor is perhaps arguably Spearman's most notable contribution to psychology.

Spearman argued that 'g' was the underlying factor in all the positive correlations of his analysis.

It is able to distinguish relationships between objects, events and information, and is able to draw inferences from these relationships.

The ’s’ factor is greatly affected by a person's 'g' factor.

Importance of 'G'

• The notion of Spearman’s ‘g’ is surrounded by social, scientific, and political controversy.

• To find an accurate 'g', the psychological tests must be diverse with respect to content, type of response, and problem.

• The 'g' result will vary according to the reliability of the test, the number of tests, and the number of diverse abilities represented by the tests.

• Every cognitive test measures ‘g’ to some extent.

• The obvious diversity of childrens' intellectual capacities argues forcefully for ability grouping.

• Even in the midst of trends favouring smaller class sizes, it is the range of ‘g’ levels of the students that determines the effectiveness of teaching.

• As global societies continue their movement toward technology-based economies, intelligence and Spearman’s ‘g’ will become increasingly important in discussions of education and public policy.

• The 'g' factor which Spearman contributed to Psychology remains used to this day.

• Proponents of ‘g’ still exist among prominent psychologists.

Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Visual Illusions, Elementary CognitiveTasks and Psychometric Tests.

Ellie Davison, Adriana Ada Frydrych, Caroline Hands, Scott Henderson, Ioanna Skoura, Rebecca Norman, Dan Shenton, Ciaran Smith, Christopher Wilkins & Craig Worrall.

Critics also feel that there may be serious cultural biases in the development of the standard tests. There is also debate over whether intelligence is a fixed quantity that can be measured and whether it actually encompasses a broader conception than what is measured in IQ tests. g

All people have unique strengths and weaknesses in different areas, whereas these tests tend to over-emphasise the general ability, ‘g’.

Standard tests are also often inappropriate for children with mental disabilities - skills measured are poor indicators of intelligence in such children and have resulted in the incorrect assumption that most children with autism have intellectual disabilities.

Finally, several psychologists believe that there are multiple intelli]gences which cannot be measured.

Given all these criticisms, a number of alternative intelligence tests have been proposed.

These include tests like the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test,

Alternatives to IQ Tests

Many scientists, psychologists, educators and members of the general public do not believe that the standard IQ test accurately measures intelligence.

SMechanical

SSpatial

SVerbal g

NumericalS g – General Ability

S – Specific Abilities

NatureSmart

WordSmart

LogicSmart

SelfSmart

PeopleSmart

PictureSmart

MusicSmart

BodySmart

For a fair selectioneverybody has to take the same

exam: please climb that tree.