There have been numerous theories in science that have emerged as a result of the intelligence of the human brain. With our human brain, we have created technology that has given birth to artificial intelligence as well. At the same time, there have been studies that reveal theories of intelligence of the human brain as well. However, as common people, we generally tend to know only a little about these theories and how can these be helpful for us in living a better and organized life day today.
Various psychologists have worked hard on drawing conclusions and inferences from these theories over the years. Let us understand these theories and try to relate them with our daily life functioning as well.
So when we talk about the Theories of intelligence we must understand that what is “intelligence”!
Intelligence is a measure of the ability of a person to master or excel a given cognitive function better than many others. There are different types of intelligence- social intelligence, problem-solving ability, behavioral intelligence, logical reasoning or the intelligence related to occult sciences i.e. spiritual intelligence or awareness.
There are three main Theories of intelligence that will help us in understanding the different cognitive strength that we all own:
- Spearman’s Two-factor theory of intelligence
- Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
- Gardner’s Theory Of Multiple Intelligence
1. Spearman’s Two-factor theory of intelligence:
The theory was propagated by Charles Spearman who was an English Psychologist. He noticed that if students did well in one subject they generally were doing well in other subjects as well. This made him conclude that every human being possesses a customized form of intelligence which he named as ‘g-factor’. This ‘g-factor’ can lead to various other forms of specialized intelligence which are known as ‘s-factor’. His interpretation states that G-factor is a sum of s-factor scores that measure a person’s abilities in one particular area.
These are the two factors of Charles Spearman’s Two-factor theory of intelligence. His theory is helpful in deriving the IP tests and measures of general cognitive ability of human beings.
2. Triarchic theory of intelligence
This theory was proposed by an American psychologist named Robest Sternberg. He proposed the Triarchic theory of intelligence that asserted to divide human intelligence into 3 parts: creative, practical and analytical intelligence.
Analytical intelligence: The ability of a person to assess the information and be able to use it for deductive reasoning wherever needed appropriately.
Creative Intelligence: This is the ability of a person to be able to create something where there is no other clue and thus find new and unique ways taking out tasks in productive ways.
Practical intelligence: This ability is related to the common sense, logical reasoning, an aptitude which are most often termed as “street smarts”.
3. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence
There are 9 different types of intelligence that are proposed in the gardener’s theory of intelligence.
This theory was proposed by Howard Gardener who was an American psychologist. These are the names of his 9 theories of intelligence:
a. Naturalistic intelligence
b. Musical intelligence
c. Logical-mathematical intelligence
d. Existential intelligence
e. Interpersonal intelligence
f. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
g. Linguistic intelligence
h. Intrapersonal intelligence
i. Visual-spatial intelligence
These are the various theories of intelligence that help us in finding better ways to understand the human mind and the different levels of intelligence. It helps in identifying the special abilities that are possessed by different human brains.
