Charles Edward Spearman

Charles Edward Spearman (1863-1945) studied psychology in Germany and received his PhD at Leipzig. Spearman is noted as a pioneer in psychology and believed in the two-factor theory of intelligence. He wrote his first paper outlining this theory in 1904 with Bernard Hart (Gregory, 1987). Spearman claimed that testing a persons abilites to complete tasks against expected outcomes could be measured and expressed in a mathemactical formula, that mathematical formula is now known as the Tetrad Equation. Spearman believed the results of this mathematical equation could be considered ones intelligence. Spearman believed each ability result could be divided into two factors; first, the general factor or other wise referred to as "g" and the second, the specific factor. The general factor states that if tasks required a similar ability the same expectance of results for one individual remains the same. And the variation of expectance from the ability to another is the specific factor. Spearman hypothesized that if a person did well on an intelligence test that the questions requiring a related task would be similar in score and for the tasks on the test that require a particularly different ability a specific factor is involved in acquiring the answer. With the combination of these factors Spearman was able to determine ones intelligence. Many psychologists disagreed with Spearman 's Model of Intelligence. Howard E. Gardner a more recent addition to psychology formulated a definition and criteria of multiple intelligences. Howard Gardner wrote of his first existence of this theory in 1979 on a grant from the Bernard Van Leer Foundation of the Netherlands (Gardner, 1999). The outcome of this grant assisted Gardner in writing the Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983). The Multiple Intelligence Theory explains seven types of intelligence and Gardner is currently exploring three additional types. In order for Gardner to accept a type of

References: Gardner, Howard. (1999). Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligence of the 21st Century. New York: Basic Books. Gregory, Richard L (1997). The Oxford Companion to The Mind. (Paperback ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Robinson, David L. (1986). Brain, Mind and Behavior: A New Perspective on Human Nature. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. Wordcount = 799