What is G Factor? Spearman's bifactorial theory

He factor g (also known as general intelligence, general mental capacity or general intelligence factor) is a parameter or indicator of cognitive skills and human intelligence.

The General Intelligence From a person basically refers to their ability to capture the environment, reason, solve problems and act efficiently and effectively in a certain situation.

While people have different cognitive strengths and weaknesses, we all defer in the G Factor, and valid intellectual quotient tests can give us a good measure of those individual differences.

Content

• G Factor and Spearman's bifactorial theory
  • General factor (g)
  • Special Factor (Special) (S)
• The factorial analysis of general intelligence
• Discussion about general intelligence

G Factor and Spearman's bifactorial theory

Charles Spearman first described the existence of general intelligence in 1904. According to Spearman, The G factor is responsible for the general performance in mental capacity tests. He pointed out that although people can certainly excel and, often, stand out in certain cognitive areas, which obtain good scores in an area also tend to do so in other areas. For example, a person who has a good result in a verbal test will probably also score high in other tests.

Developed the called theory Bifactorial theory, in which intelligence would compose two fundamental parameters:

General factor (g)

Refers to a eminently hereditary personal characteristic, a specific property of the brain that varies from one individual to another, but remains stable over time.

Special Factor (Special) (S)

Which represents the specific skills or skills of a subject against a certain task, which varies depending on the previous education of the person and are not generalizable to other areas.

The factorial analysis of general intelligence

Charles Spearman also helped develop a statistical technique known as factorial analysis. The factor analysis allows researchers to measure general skills Through a series of different test elements.

Spearman believed that general intelligence represented an intelligence factor underlying specific mental skills. So, in intelligence tests, all the tasks to be performed, whether related to verbal or mathematical skills, are influenced by the underlying factor G. For example, people who obtain good scores in the questions that measure vocabulary also work well in questions related to reading comprehension.

Thus, the concept of general intelligence could compare it with sport. A person can be a great swimmer, but this does not necessarily mean that it is also an excellent obstacle jumper. However, because this person is athletic and is fit, they are likely to work much better in other physical tasks than a less coordinated and more sedentary person.

The G factor explains most individual differences in performance in mental tests. This is regardless of the specific capacity that each test evaluates, the test content (whether words, numbers or figures) and the way in which the test is administered (in written or oral, individual or group form). Each concrete test of mental skills measures certain skills, but they all reflect the G factor to some extent. Therefore, the G factor can be extracted from the scores of any diverse test battery.

Many intelligence tests, including that of Stanford-Binet, measure some of the cognitive factors that are believed to make up general intelligence. These include viso-space processing, mathematical logical reasoning, knowledge, fluid reasoning and working memory.

• He viso-spatial processing includes skills such as mounting puzzles and copying complex forms.
• He Mathematical logical reasoning It implies the ability to solve problems with numerical factors.
• He knowledge It is related to understanding of various types.
• He fluid reasoning It is based on the ability to think flexibly and solve problems.
• The work memory It implies the use of short -term memory, as well as the repetition lists of several elements.

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Discussion about general intelligence

Some researchers argue that the notion of general intelligence or G factor is illusory, that there is no such global mental capacity and that the apparent "intelligence" is only a byproduct of the opportunities of one to learn skills and information valued in a particular particular cultural context.

It is true that the concept of intelligence and the way in which individuals are classified according to this criterion could have a very important social deviation. But the fact that the G Factor is not specific to any particular domain of knowledge or mental ability, suggests that this is independent of cultural content, including beliefs about what intelligence is. Besides, Tests of different social groups reveal the same general intelligence continuum.

Anyway, the notion that a person's intelligence can be measured and summarized in a single number obtained through an intellectual quotient test, has been very controversial for decades. Some psychologists, including Thurstone, challenged the concept of a G Factor. Thurstone instead identified an amount of what he called "primary mental skills".

The most recent investigations point to the existence of an underlying mental capacity that contributes to good performance in different cognitive tasks. CI scores, which are designed to measure this general intelligence, can predict academic success, but not from life, since other factors such as The experiences of childhood, education, socioeconomic state, motivation, maturity and personality also play a critical role to determine general success.

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