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Francis Galton's London Exposition
Charles Darwin sparked Galton's interest in how the traits we acquire determine our natural ability or intelligence. He assessed reaction time, muscular power, and other things. Although there was no correlation and this study failed, he left us with his book, Hereditary Genius. -
Binet-Simon Intelligence Test
Alfred Binet led the assessment of the mental ages of school-aged children, to help determine who benefitted from the school curriculum and who was in need of special classes. They decided that mental aptitude is a general capacity, shown in many ways. Their tests were simply meant to identify which students needed special attention. -
Charles Spearman's General Intelligence
Spearman believed that all people have only one general intelligence, characterized by the results of factor analysis. He discovered that the g factor affected all of our intelligent behavior. -
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
Soon after Binet passed away, Stanford University professor Lewis Terman took Binet's intelligence test and adapted it to assess an individual's IQ, or intelligence quotient. This scale was expanded to assess adults, rather than only children. -
Intelligence Testing During the War
Army officials needed to administrate intelligence tests to assess their incoming army recruits, so they developed the Army Alpha and Beta tests. The Alpha test was a written test, and the Beta was verbal, for those who could not read. These tests were also used to screen immigrants entering the US and to help determine army leadership positions. -
Discovery of Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence can be characterized by perceiving, understanding, managing, and using emotions in an intelligent way. Studies show that those with high emotional intelligence have better job performance, enjoy time with friends more, and can more easily avoid mental illness. -
Edward Thorndike's Social Intelligence
Thorndike proposed social intelligence as the knowledge of how to comprehend social situations and handle oneself in the right manner. This discovery was a gateway to the discovery of emotional intelligence. -
L.L. Thurstone's Seven Factors
Thurstone believed that having scores for seven primary abilities is much more efficient that one single g factor. He assessed word fluency, verbal comprehension, spacial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and memory. -
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
David Wechsler was unsatisfied with the limitations of Binet's intelligence test, so he created his own. Rather than basing it on chronological age and mental age, he assessed the test taker in accordance to other test takers in the same age group. It consists of 11 subtests in both verbal and performance areas. -
Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences
Gardner believed that we needed to assess a wide range of skills, 8 independent intelligences, such as musical, spatial, linguistic, and intrapersonal intelligence. It was important to show that intelligence is more than simply mathematical and verbal skills. -
Robert Sternberg's Triarchic Theory
Sternberg divided our intelligence capabilities into three areas known as analytical, creative, and practical. It is thought that these three areas may share an underlying g factor. -
Components of Creativity
Sternberg and his colleagues worked to define creativity through five components known as expertise, imaginative thinking skills, a venturesome personality, intrinsic motivation, and a creative environment. These scientists decided that creativity was a component of the measure of intelligence in people.
