Intelligence

Judith A. Ponticell

It has been argued that intelligence has three basic meanings: (1) it is a genetic capacity, (2) it is an observed behavior, the interaction of genes and the environment, and (3) it is what an intelligence test measures. Intelligence has long been viewed as static and biologically determined. In 1869 Sir Francis Galton published Hereditary Genius , in which he proposed that “genius” ran in certain families, one of which was his own. At the beginning of the twentieth century, specifically 1904, Charles Spearman theorized that intelligence was the composite of several factors, a general g factor and a series of specific s factors. Spearman assumed that in any specific situation, the g factor activated a set of “specific engines” of ability. Spearman believed the general intelligence ( g ) factor was largely inherited, but the specific s factors were susceptible to environmental influences. In 1935 L. L. Thurstone challenged ...

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