Chapter 7:

Theories of Intelligence, Thought

and Language and Learning
Readiness

Syaza Aiman Abdul Hamid

Nur E’zzati Rusli
Effarizan Hassan
Amelia Ruth Mariadass
Zunika Ismail
 Theories of Intelligence
• According to Collins Cobuild Advanced Dictionary, intelligence is the
quality of being intelligent or clever; the ability to think, reason and
understand instead of doing things automatically or by instinct.
• Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary on the other hand, defined
intelligence as the ability to learn, understand and think in a logical way
about things; the ability to do this well.
• Intelligence derives from the Latin verb intelligere (“to understand”, “to
choose between”); per that rationale, “understanding” (intelligence) is
different from being “smart” (capable of adapting to the environment).
(Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary (1996) p.991)
 General Intelligence
Psychometric approach 

• British psychologist Charles Spearman (1863-1945) described a concept he referred to

as general intelligence, or the g factor.

• After using a technique known as factor analysis to examine a number of mental

aptitude tests, Spearman concluded that scores on these tests were remarkably similar.

• People who performed well on one cognitive test tended to perform well on other

tests, while those who scored badly on one test tended to score badly on other.

• He concluded that intelligence is general cognitive ability that could be measured and

numerically expressed (Spearman, 1904).

 Primary Mental Abilities
Psychologist Louis L. Thurstone (1887-1955) offered a differing theory of intelligence.

Instead of viewing intelligence as a single, general ability, Thurstone's theory focused on seven

different "primary mental abilities" (Thurstone, 1938). The abilities that he described were:

• Verbal comprehension

• Reasoning

• Perceptual speed

• Numerical ability

• Word fluency

• Associative memory

• Spatial visualization
 Multiple Intelligences

One of the more recent ideas to emerge is Howard

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. Instead of
focusing on the analysis of test scores, Gardner proposed
that numerical expressions of human intelligence are not a
full and accurate depiction of people's abilities. His theory
describes eight distinct intelligences that are based on
skills and abilities that are valued within different cultures.
The eight intelligences Gardner described are:

• Visual-spatial Intelligence
• Verbal-linguistic Intelligence
• Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence
• Logical-mathematical Intelligence
• Interpersonal Intelligence
• Musical Intelligence
• Intra personal Intelligence
• Naturalistic Intelligence
 Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Psychologist Robert Sternberg defined intelligence as "mental activity

directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection and shaping of, real-
world environments relevant to one’s life" (Sternberg, 1985, p. 45).
While he agreed with Gardner that intelligence is much broader than a
single, general ability, he instead suggested some of Gardner's
intelligences are better viewed as individual talents. Sternberg proposed
what he refers to as 'successful intelligence,' which is comprised of three
different factors:
• Analytical intelligence: This component refers to problem-solving
abilities.
• Creative intelligence: This aspect of intelligence involves the ability to
deal with new situations using past experiences and current skills.
• Practical intelligence: This element refers to the ability to adapt to a
changing environment.
 Moral Intelligence

Moral Intelligence is the ability to distinguish

between right and wrong. Broadly conceived,
moral intelligence represents the ability to
make sound decisions that benefit not only
yourself, but others around you (Coles, 1997;
Hass, 1998).
 Social Intelligence

•  Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to understand other people: what motivates

them, how they work, how to work cooperatively with them. Successful salespeople,

politicians, teachers, clinicians, and religious leaders are all likely to be individuals with

high degrees of interpersonal intelligence.

• At the same time, social intelligence probably draws on specific internal abilities. For

example, in a recent study of incompetence, Kruger and Dunning (1999) found that

incompetent people assessed themselves as being highly competent.

• This lack of ability to self-assess may be due to a combination of internal (poor

metacognition) and external factors (poor ability to compare oneself to others).

• Social intelligence appears to be receiving the most attention in the management and

organizational psychology literatures (e.g., Hough, 2001; Riggio, Murphy, & Pirozzolo,

2002).
 Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, "is a type of social intelligence that

involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' emotions, to discriminate

among them, and to use the information to guide one's thinking and actions"

(Mayer & Salovey, 1993, p. 433).

According to Goleman (1995), "Emotional intelligence, the skills that help people

harmonize, should become increasingly valued as a workplace asset in the years

to come" (p. 160). EI may subsume Gardner's inter- and intrapersonal

intelligences, and involves abilities that may be categorized into five domains

(Salovey & Mayer, 1990):

• Self-awareness: Observing yourself and recognizing a feeling as it happens.

• Managing emotions: Handling feelings so that they are appropriate; realizing

what is behind a feeling; finding ways to handle fears and anxieties, anger,

and sadness.

• Motivating oneself: Channeling emotions in the service of a goal; emotional

self control; delaying gratification and stifling impulses.

• Empathy: Sensitivity to others' feelings and concerns and taking their

perspective; appreciating the differences in how people feel about things.

• Handling relationships: Managing emotions in others; social competence and

social skills.
Significance of Theories of Multiple Intelligences in Teaching-Learning

• In Gardner's view, learning is both a social and psychological process. When

students understand the balance of their own multiple intelligences they begin to
manage their own learning and to value their individual strengths.
 
• Teachers understand how students are intelligent as well as how intelligent they
are. Knowing which students have the potential for strong interpersonal
intelligence, for example, will help you create opportunities where the strength can
be fostered in others. However, multiple intelligence theory is not intended to
provide teachers with new IQ-like labels for their students.
 
• Teachers will be able to provide opportunities for authentic learning based on
students' needs, interests and talents. The multiple intelligence classroom acts like
the "real" world: the author and the illustrator of a book are equally valuable
creators. Students become more active, involved learners.
• Students will be able to demonstrate and share their strengths. Building strengths gives a

student the motivation to be a "specialist." This can in turn lead to increased self-esteem.

• When you "teach for understanding”, students accumulate positive educational

experiences and the capability for creating solutions to problems in life.

• With an understanding of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, teachers, school

administrators, and parents can better understand the learners in their midst. They can

allow students to safely explore and learn in many ways, and they can help students

direct their own learning. Adults can help students understand and appreciate their

strengths, and identify real-world activities that will stimulate more learning. (Anne

Guignon; Education World, 2010)

 Theories of Thought and Language

• Thought is defined as an idea that you have in your mind (Collins Cobuild Advanced

Dictionary). Thought and thinking are mental forms and processes, respectively

("thought" is both). Thinking allows beings to model the world and to represent it

according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires (Webster's II New College

Dictionary, Webster Staff, Webster, Houghton Mifflin Company, Edition: 2)

• Language is a system of communication which consist of a set of sound and written

symbols which are used by the people of a particular country or region (Collins Cobuilds

Advanced Dictionary). In communication term, language is the use by the humans of a

system of sounds and words to communicate (Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary).

 Whorf – Linguistic Determinism and Linguistic Relativism

Whorf believed that the structure of language plays a role in determining

worldview.  He based his hypothesis on the study of the treatment of time and

space in Hopi.  Whorf claimed that speakers of Hopi and speakers of English see

the world differently because of differences in their languages. The Whorfian

hypothesis is regarded as a psychological hypothesis about language

performance and not as a linguistic hypothesis about language competence.

(Hunt and Agnoli, 1991.)  Grammatical preferences in a language have a direct

relationship to preferences in logic and thinking within a culture.

 Vygotsky – Thinking and Speaking

• Vygotsky studied language and thought as a connected phenomenon and

discovered how words and thought are interrelated and both lead to ever
expanding knowledge. His work was unknown in the United States for many years.
Vygotsky was of the school that thought is determined by language, by the
linguistic tools of thought and by the socio-cultural experiences of the child
(Vygotsky, 1934). Cognitive skills and patterns of thinking are not primarily
determined by innate factors, but are the products of the activities practiced in the
social institutions of the culture in which the individual grows up.  
•Thought and language have independent origins.  The two merge around two
years of age, producing mental thought.  Mental operations are embodied in the
structure of language; therefore cognitive development results from the
internalization of language.  We cannot think without language. 
Egocentric, or private, speech is a transitional phase in child

development.  It is a precursor to verbal thought.  Two issues are

involved in the merging of thought and language.  First, mental functions

have social origins and second, children use language for some time

before they make the switch from external to internal speech. 

Egocentric speech occurs when a child uses language that she/he has

acquired to organize and plan her/his own activities.  Eventually it goes

beneath the surface to become inner speech, or pure thought. 

 Chomsky – Language and Mind

  Chomsky’s 1957 book, Syntactic Structures, set the stage for shifting the study of

linguistics away from ideas of relativity toward a fundamentalist view of universals.

Chomsky theorized that children are born with some form of a language-acquisition

device that enables them to analyze the speech they hear and derive the rules of that

language. Chomsky’s concept of Universal Grammar is well known.  Anthropological

studies of language propose that there is considerable diversity in world languages

and therefore no underlying universal grammar structure.  Chomsky believes that

when we study the deep structures of the languages we see that there is very little

differentiation in their fundamental mechanisms and principles.  This difference

between anthropology and linguistics was not as sharply defined in America prior to

Chomsky.
• Chomsky approaches the issues of linguistic structure as a part of human psychology. 

Human language appears to be a unique phenomenon, unlike any communication

systems in other animals.  He disagrees with the argument that human language is

simply a more complex form of communication found in the animal world.  

• The possession of human language is connected with a specific type of mental

organization, not merely an advanced level of intelligence.  

• Chomsky argues that there is no established relationships in Karl Popper’s theory that

human language passed through stages, a “lower stage” of vocal gestures used for

expression of emotion and a “higher stage” of articulated sounds used for expression

of thought, (Chomsky, 1968) This gap is comparable to the “missing link” in the

evolution of humans.

• Chomsky argues that the theory of learning needs to expand from the concept that

what is learned is a stimulus-response behaviour to include the notion of competence.

 Piaget’s
Child Thought and Language Theory

• According to Piaget, the bond uniting all the specific characteristics of child logic

is the egocentrism of the child’s thinking. To this core trait he relates all the other

traits he found, such as intellectual realism, syncretism, and difficulty in

understanding relations. He describes egocentrism as occupying an intermediate

position, genetically, structurally, and functionally, between autistic and directed

thought. Directed thought is social. As it develops, it is increasingly influenced by

the laws of experience and of logic proper. Autistic thought, on the contrary, is

individualistic and obeys a set of special laws of its own.

 Theories of Learning Readiness
• Readiness is the state of being ready or prepared for something (Oxford
Advanced Learner Dictionary).

• Readiness approaches in developmental psychology emphasize that

children cannot learn something until maturation gives them certain
prerequisites (Brainerd, 1978). The ability to learn any cognitive content
is always related to their stage of intellectual development. Children who
are at a certain stage cannot be taught the concepts of a higher stage.
 Thorndike’s Law of Readiness

Law of readiness Interference with goal directed behavior causes

frustration and causing someone to do something they do not want to
do is also frustrating. 
a) When someone is ready to perform some act, to do so is satisfying. 
b) When someone is ready to perform some act, not to do so is
annoying. 
c) When someone is not ready to perform some act and is forced to do
so, it is annoying
 Types of Learning Readiness

• According to Bloom (1956), there are three different domains of learning. There is cognitive, psychomotor

and affective. 

Cognitive learning breaks down to these levels of increasing complexity:

• Knowledge - or recalling what was told

• Comprehension - or gaining understanding

• Application - or taking knowledge of one kind and applying to a different area

• Analysis - this means taking a whole concept and breaking it down into parts

• Synthesize - this means building parts up into a new whole (includes deduction)

• Evaluate - is the most complex, where judgment is made based on criteria

 
Psychomotor learning (Simpson, 1969)

• Sensory preparedness - ability to perceive

• State of readiness - perceiving can produce motor action

• Reflex/ Imitation - repeating back what is shown

• Manipulation - doing what is told rather than shown (some previous imitation)

• Guided response - own trial and error set using known methods

• Precision - accurate actions carried out independently

• Complex articulation - means the sequencing of actions on demand

• Naturalize - means that skills become absorbed and automatic

• Origination - or creative newness

Affective learning (Krathwohl, 1964)

• Receiving - is where there is a passive response to stimuli

• Responding - is where curiosity and responsibility come in a response

• Valuing - this is where intrinsic worth is recognized and beliefs emerge

• Organize - means patterning and building a set of values

• Characterize - means an absorption and coherence given to values

 Factors affecting Learning Readiness  

• Conflict of personalities due to the many differing types of intelligences

 
• Differences in learning aptitudes due to differing types of natural talents

• Generation gap due to age and hierarchy differences between the

younger and older staff
 
• Sensitivities in race, religion and culture due to multicultural learning
community

(Dahlan & Hussin, 2005)

 Resources

•  Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia www.wikipedia.com

• Chomsky, N. (1968) Language and Mind. Retrieved April 8, 2003, from Marxist.org
 InternetArchive  http
://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/chomsky.htm 
• Alford, Dan Moonhawk. (2002) The Great Whorf Hypothesis Hoax. Retrieved
February 13, 2003 from  http://www.enformy.com/dma-Chap7.htm
• Bruner, J. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
• Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple Intelligences. New York: BasicBooks.
• Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
• Carroll, J. B. (1982). "The Measurement of Intelligence". in R. J. Sternberg. Handbook
of human intelligence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Armstrong, Thomas. Multiple Intelligences in The Classroom. Va: asdc, 1994
• Gardner, Howard. Frames Of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. NY:
basicbooks, 1983.