Intelligence and the Concept of G Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Intelligence and the Concept of G - screen ExampleOn his road to achieve this Spearman developed Factor Analysis a statistical outline method to determine if there were correlations between independent factors. In 1904, Spearman published General Intelligence, Objectively deliberate and Observed in which the first scientific definition of intelligence was put forth. According to Spearman,intelligent behaviour is generated by a single, unitary quality within the human mind or brain. Spearman derived this theoretical entity, called the all-encompassingly distributed factor, or simply g, through a new statistical technique that analyzed the correlations among a counterbalance of variables. This technique, called factor analysis, demonstrated that scores on all mental running plays are positively correlated this offered make evidence that all intelligent behaviour is derived from one metaphorical pool of mental energy (Charles 2007, 1).In short, Spearmans Theory of General Intel ligence states all variation in intelligence test scores tidy sum be explained by two factors. The first is the factor specific to an single mental task the individual abilities that would make a person more skilled at one cognitive task than another. The import is g, a general factor that governs performance on all cognitive tasks (History 2007, 1).Researchers have long hold that there is a wide range of ability in basic cognitive skills such as logical cogitate, spatial analogies, completion of matrices, vocabulary and other mental tests among different people. The same people melt down to do better on these tests across the entire range of tests than do other people. Further, by delectation of statistical analysis of this raw data, researcher have isolated the cause for the differences in peoples mental reasoning abilities to one factor credited for this consistent accelerated performance - that one factor is g. G acts deal a correlation coefficient with a value of .65 (F lynn 2003).Jensen (2002) reported that individuals with higher levels of g, in effect, have better brains. volume with these higher levels of g tend to prefer more complex cognitive tasks resulting in high g loading. To explain this Jensen (2002, 153) states some property of the brain has cognitive manifestations that result in the emergence of g. In effect, Jensen (2002) asserts that g is a throwaway of the influence on brain quality. The higher the g the better the brain this result equates to an payoff in any cognitive skill utilized.Johnson et al. (2004) conducted a study to determine whether g, in actuality, predicts a wide range of cognitive performances. The researchers predicted that Spearmans g would have a strong correlation on a assorted set of abilities. The empirical evidence proving the existence of g is well documented. However, there remains some rock in that the social implications of the existence of measurable individual differences in a personal characterist ic that is highly predictive of a broad range of life outcomes (Johnson et al. 2004, 96). The researchers assert that regardless of the battery of tests utilized to measure g, the results should be uniform across various test batteries. If, in fact, g varies across these different kinds of test