History of Individual Intelligence Testing
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English psychologist Charles Spearman observed that people have a general intelligence level that underlies all intellectual functions. He believed there was a g factor, or general intelligence, and a number of s factors, or specific intellectual abilities. His influence can be seen in intelligence tests such as the StanfordBinet, which yields one IQ score to indicate a person's level of general intelligence. Another early researcher in testing, Louis L. Thurstone, rejected Spearman's idea of general intellectual ability. He identified seven primary mental abilities that he believed all intellectual activities are affected by. He and his wife, Thelma G. Thurstone, developed their Primary Mental Abilities Tests to measure these seven abilities because they believed that a single IQ score did not reveal as much about a persons intelligence level as was possible. Some theorists, instead of searching for the factors that underlie intelligence, thought there were different types of intelligence. For example, Howard Gardner did not believe there was a g factor...