Question- Explain Group of Factor Theory of Intelligence.

Answer-

Group Factor Theory (L.L. Thurstone)

Historical Review : Thurstone’s theory of intelligence is particularly available in his work Factorial Studies of Intelligence, in collaboration with Thurstone T.G., published in 1941 by the University of Chicago Press. Even before this some idea of his theory was given in his work Primary Mental Alights, published in 1938. He further presented analysis of his theory in his book Multiple Factor Analysis (1947). For the student’s purposes the best source book of his theory is The Nature of Intelligence (1962) published by Harcourt, Brace World, New York.

Nature of Intelligence : According to Thurstone, the present stage of intelligence theory is a continuation of the early factor approach. This phase is third in progress and Thurstone is one of the most important contributors. Thurstone believes that different mental faculties make up the complex concept of intelligence. These faculties are sorted out by factor analysis. Among these the most important are verbal, numerical, perceptual, memory and visuo-special and many other factors. Initially Thurstone believes that these primary factors put together form the notion of intelligence. Afterwards it was accepted that intelligence is a second order correlated with these primary factors. Thurstone’s theory was further extended by J.P. Guilford.

Improvement upon Spearman : Thurstone’s first major application of his centroid factor method improved upon Spearman’s theory. He said, “We have not found the general factor of Spearman and we cannot report any general common factor in the battery of 56 tests.” Spearman reworked Thurstone’s data and charged that his rotational process had submerged the general factor. American factorists, however, found Thurstone convincing. They were attracted by his description of abilities in terms of 7 primaries. These primaries were more amenable to specific definition. Thurstone was able to replicate his findings on samples from two other populations. Thus, he gave credence to his method and results. However, in a couple of events some turbulence in his 7 dimension theory was noted. The first of these was minor study by one of his own students. Thurstone, however, renamed it maturational level. He took the next logical step of constructing tests to measure primaries. He found that the primaries were themselves intercorrelated. He admitted that a general factor was needed to explain the interrelatedness of the primaries. This led to the idea of oblique axes which were regarded as representing the primaries has first order factor. The general factor pervading the primaries was dubbed as second order factor.

Fundamental Tendencies : Thurstone specified 7 fundamental tendencies in the human being as against the five specified by Spearman. These mental abilities were not clearly specified by the then prevalent tests. Psychometric factor, however, helped in their identification. As has been already pointed out, these were called primary mental abilities. According to psychometric scale, intelligence is a composite of related mental abilities, some of which are more closely associated with learning and consequently on their basis the prediction of scholastic attainments is more easily possible. The same factors are found at each age level though the test material was radically changed. According to P.E. Vernon, the latest authority in this field, it is profitable to study different mental faculties adopting the factorial model of Thurstone when we are dealing with a homogeneous or highly selected population. But with more heterogeneous population in which there are ethnic groups or subgroups, the ‘G’ factor tends to dominate and, therefore, Thurstone’s model is not very useful.

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