Both Charles Spearman and Howard Gardner have advanced theories of intelligence. SpearmanÆs theory came first. Relying on a mathematical process known as ôfactor analysis,ö Spearman observed that individuals score the same on may items on a range of mental tests similar to ônormedö tests like Intelligence Quotient tests, (Bower, 2003, p. 92). Scores from such tests were used by Spearman to yield a single measure he referred to as ôgeneralö or ôgö factor, what he asserted was a ômarker of a personÆs facility for reasoning about any and all mental tasks,ö (Bower, 2003, p. 92).
TodayÆs psychology has steered away from the ôgö factor as a measure of overall intelligence, primarily because it focuses on only one kind of human intelligence. Measuring only ôgö as a sign of intelligence fails to recognize that other types of intelligences exist in students who achieve and do. Such standardized assessments and ôgö specifically have been totally rejected by Howard Gardner (1993, 8) in his theory of ômultiple intelligences.ö GardnerÆs general definition of intelligence is not radical. He defines it as linked to the central notion of problem-solving skills which enable an individual to resolve genuine problems or difficulties that he or she faces and when appropriate to create an effective product, laying the groundwork for the acquisition of new knowledge. His view becomes radical, in the general context of SpearmanÆs theory, when he rejects without qualification the very notion of ôg,ö (Garner, 1983, p. 27).
TodayÆs psychology not only views standardized tests as biased, being designed to measure only specific aspects of intelligence. Many standardized tests used to formulate the ôgö factor of intelligence require knowledge learned outside of classroom environments, often disadvantaging students of poor socioeconomic backgrounds. Likewise, psychologists now believe that
...