Spearman's vs. Gardner's Models of Pyschology

· General Intelligence of School of Thought by Spearman
· Multiple School of Thought by Gardner
The multiple intelligences proponents believe that there are different kinds of intelligence, and the general intelligence proponents believe that there is one factor from which all intelligence is derived.
Success in problem solving, ability to learn, capacity for producing noegenetic solutions, understanding of complex instructions or simply all-round cognitive ability are all definitions of intelligence. These all require the nervous system, especially the brain, and sensory organs to be functioning properly which is a common thread in all of these definitions. Also, requires that the information processing that goes on within the bodily systems is relatively without error in order for these types of tasks to be completed. (One Intelligence or Many” n.d.)
Spearman’s philosophy is that of the two-factor theory of intelligence “g” & “s”. According to the two-factor theory, the performance of any intellectual act requires some combination of “g”, which is available to the same individual to the same degree for all intellectual acts, and of “specific factors” or “s” which are specific to that act and which varies in strength from one act to another. If one knows how a person performs on one task that is highly saturated with “g”, one can safely predict a similar level of performance for another highly “g” saturated task. Prediction of performance on tasks with high “s” factors is less accurate. Since “g” pervades all tasks, prediction will be significantly better than chance. Thus, the most important information to have about a person’s intellectual ability is an estimate of their “g”.
Although both Spearman and Gardner ’s theories were based on the brain and cognitive ability of individuals, Gardner ’s original intent in publishing his theory of Multiple Intelligence (MI) was to broaden the psychological notions of intelligence. His theory differs from Spearman’s in that he believed intelligence is not a single attribute that can be measured and given a number. That IQ tests measure primarily verbal, logical-mathematical and some spatial intelligence. Gardner (New Horizons for Learning n.d.). The theory of multiple intelligences suggest that there are a number of distinct forms of intelligence that each individual possesses in varying degrees; linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, body-kinesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal. Gardner left open the possibility that further intelligences may exist; naturalistic, spiritual and existential. Eventually only adding existential as an eighth intelligence. (Multiple Intelligences (H. Gardner n.d.)
I feel that Gardner ’s Multiple Intelligence is more in line with psychology today. There is an increasing number of researchers that believe there exists a multitude of intelligences, quite independent of each other; that each intelligence has its own strengths and constraints; that the mind is far from unencumbered at birth; and that it is unexpectedly difficult to teach things that go against early ‘naïve’ theories of that challenge the natural lines of force within an intelligence and its matching domains (Infed n.d.)