Question

Define general intelligence theory and multiple intelligence theory. Provide a critique of both theories, and discuss which of the two theories appears most plausible to you. Provide a couple of examples to support your conclusion.

Answer 1

• General intelligence, also known as g factor, refers to the existence of a broad mental capacity that influences performance on cognitive ability measures. Charles Spearman first described the existence of general intelligence in 1904.According to Spearman, this g factor was responsible for overall performance on mental ability tests. Spearman noted that while people certainly could and often did excel in certain areas, people who did well in one area tended also to do well in other areas.
• For example, a person who does well on a verbal test would probably also do well on other tests.
• Those who hold this view believe that intelligence can be measured and expressed by a single number, such as an IQ score.The idea is that this underlying general intelligence influences performance on all cognitive tasks.
• Spearman believed that general intelligence represented an intelligence factor underlying specific mental abilities. All tasks on intelligence tests, whether they related to verbal or mathematical abilities, were influenced by this underlying g-factor.
• Many modern intelligence tests, including the Stanford-Binet, measure some of the cognitive factors that are thought to make up general intelligence. These include visual-spatial processing, quantitative reasoning, knowledge, fluid reasoning, and working memory.
• Howard Gardner has challenged the notion that a single general intelligence can accurately capture all of human mental ability.Gardner instead proposed that different multiple intelligences exist. Each intelligence represents abilities in a certain domain such as visual-spatial intelligence, verbal-linguistic intelligence, and logical-mathematical intelligence.
• While a person might be particularly strong in a specific area, such as musical intelligence, he or she most likely possesses a range of abilities. For example, an individual might be strong in verbal, musical, and naturalistic intelligence.
• However, while IQ can play a role in academic and life success, other factors such as childhood experiences, educational experiences, socioeconomic status, motivation, maturity, and personality also play a critical role in determining overall success.
• Critics argue that Gardner’s definition of intelligence is too broad and that his eight different "intelligences" simply represent talents, personality traits, and abilities. Gardner’s theory also suffers from a lack of supporting empirical research.
• However,many teachers utilize multiple intelligences in their teaching philosophies and work to integrate Gardner’s theory into the classroom.Learning more about the multiple intelligences can help you better understand your own strengths.
• I think general intelligence is more plausible since we all have certain abilities and potentials that help us perform tasks. The general intelligence works on a everyday basis right from reading a newspaper to understanding what is written to buying stuff from a store.And our IQ scores I believe do indicate our cognitive skills of thinking,reasoning,decision making etc. on a mental abilities test.
• It is true that your cognitive abilities can vary, .ie you may be better at math than you are at writing. However, these abilities tend to be positively correlated with one another, and so we can extract a common g factor that influences all of your cognitive abilities and even things like reaction time.
• General intelligence is like the battery, and your specific abilities are like each motor. So, multiple intelligences is not very accurate unless if it just wishes to claim that your particular skills vary.