General Intelligence vs. Multiple Intelligences

      Spearman, Cattell, and Thurstone are generalists. This means that they believe that everybody has a general intelligence. Spearman said that there is a G scale of intelligence. He said that if you are intelligent, you are good at a multitude of things including mathematical, mechanical, verbal, spatial things, and if you are not intelligent, you are not good at any of those. He measured using psychometric testing. Cattell divided the general intelligence into two parts: crystallized intelligence, which is one's knowledge, and fluid intelligence, which is one's ability to see complex problems and solve them quickly. Cattell also holds that if you are good at one of Spearman's aspects, you are good at all, and if you are not good at one, you are not good at any. As opposed to Spearman, Thurstone had 7 aspects of intelligence including verbal comprehension, verbal fluency, arithmetic ability, memory, perceptual speed, inductive reasoning, spatial visualization. Studies have shown that Spearman is right in the sense that those who scored high on one thing, tended to score high on other sections as well.

      Gardner and Sternberg believed that people possess multiple intelligences. They believed people could be intelligent at one thing, but not necessarily at another. Gardner proved this based on two things: an idiot savant could have a very low IQ, but could be amazingly intelligent at one specific thing. I have a friend with autism who can tell me the day of the week any date is on. If I tell him my birthday, he can successfully tell me what day I was born on. Another way Gardner proved that people have multiple intelligences is with brain damage people, they could have brain damage in some parts of the brain, but in others, they could still be very intelligent. Sternberg held by his triarchic theory. He said that there are different ways of being smart. Analytical intelligence includes knowledge, performance, and metacognitive performance. This includes doing well in school and being good at memorizing things. Creative intelligence is exactly what it sounds like. It includes coming up with creative ideas and being able to adapt to new situations well. Practical intelligence is not just about your IQ, but it is also about how you interact and your social intelligence. If you have a mixture of all three parts of his theory, Sternberg would say you will be very successful.