Guilford’s Theory of Intelligence

This conception of intelligence served to recognize the importance of creativity.

Intelligence is a complex construct that throughout history has been conceptualized in very different ways by different authors.

From a classical view that treats intelligence as a single, unitary capacity to others that consider it to be a set of capacities independent of each other and others that stipulate the existence of hierarchically organized sets of skills, a large number of theories and models have emerged that attempt to explain what intelligence is, how it is structured and how it acts.

One of these theories is Guilford's Guilford's theory of intelligence.

Intelligence as a construct

As just mentioned, there is a wide variety of perspectives on what is meant by the term intelligence, and the research carried out has varied greatly in the approach to its study and analysis.

However, in a general way, we can consider that it is the capacity or set of mental set of mental capacities that allow us to adaptIt allows us to manage our cognitive resources in the most efficient way when facing different situations.

Thanks to intelligence we are able to capture and analyze correctly the information coming from the environment or from ourselves, establish strategies and ways to manage resources and solve problems, plan our behavior and carry it out successfully.

Guilford's theory of intelligence

Joy Paul Guilford was an American psychologist. whose contributions to the study of intelligence converge in a theory of intelligence that, together with Raymond Cattell and Thurstone, is one of the most relevant contributions to the conception of intelligence as a set of skills.

Guilford's model is based on the consideration of intelligence as the process by which the human being transforms information from the environment into mental contents, so that he has an operationalist vision of it. The author establishes three separate and independent dimensions based on perception, information transformation and response emission.

Specifically, he speaks of input elements or contents, operations and output elements or product.s. His model is therefore three-dimensional, and is usually represented in the form of a cube in which the interactions between the three major dimensions interrelate to form up to 120 different factors.

It is a taxonomic model that considers the different abilities as non-hierarchical, the different aptitudes being independent. Intelligence is thus a set of separate aptitudes that allow us to adapt to our environment.

Guilford's three dimensions

For Guilford's theory of intelligence, the three main dimensions of each of the aptitudes that make up intelligence are three: the contents or perceptions, the operations that are carried out with them and finally the products or result of elaborating the first ones.

1. The contents

By contents we mean all that set of information and data collected, whether from the external environment or from the subject himself. It is mainly a question of data, without any work having been carried out on them.. In short, we are talking about the basic element from which the organism works to elaborate contents from operations.

Within the contents, we can find different types of information.

• Figural: this is the visual information that we capture, i.e. images.
• Symbolic: this is also visual information, but in this case they are elements used as signs of a language to represent a concept or idea and that have no meaning by themselves.
• Semantic: mental contents linked to the meaning of symbols.
• Behavioral or behavioralall that data coming from the link with the environment or with other individuals. It includes gestures, desires, intentions or attitudes.

2. Processes or operations

Operations refer to the set of procedures that the organism carries out to transform input information into output information. In other words, it is the processing of the information of the contents in such a way as to generate products in the form of a mental or physical response.

Within these operations we find the following processes:

• CognitionCognition: awareness or comprehension of information. It is based on the ability to extract the meaning of the information captured.
• MemoryMemory: it is based on the retention of information in order to operate with it at some point in time.
• Convergent productionCreation of possible alternatives based on previously obtained information. It involves the agglutination of previous information in order to select the appropriate response.
• Divergent productionThe act of creating alternatives other than the usual ones and contained in the memory. It is based on generating a novel response from the data obtained without .
• EvaluationEvaluation: making comparisons between the different contents that allows establishing relationships.

3. The products

The products can be understood as the result of the transformations carried out through the operations to the contents. Thus, it refers to the expression or response generated by them, either behavioral or mental.

Within the products, Guilford's theory of intelligence considers the existence of several typologies.

• UnitsUnits: simple and basic responses. A word, idea or elementary action.
• Classesconceptualizations or organizations of units similar in some sense.
• RelationshipsThe idea of a connection between the different information handled. For example, lightning is linked to thunder.
• SystemsSystems: organizations of diverse information that interact with each other.
• Transformationsany modification carried out with respect to the captured information.
• ImplicationsEstablishment of connections between information suggested by some concrete element without this connection appearing specifically as information. Relationships of causality or covariation are established between elements.

Divergent thinking and creativity

Regardless of whether Guilford's theory of intelligence is more or less valid, one of the main and most important contributions to the conception of intelligence is the incorporation of divergent thinking as a distinctive element that is part of intelligence. Previously, the creation of alternatives was not considered to be an indication of intelligence.The study of the latter is based on the search for a single correct alternative.

From Guilford onwards, however, began to work on the study of creativity as part of the intellectual capacity. as part of intellectual capacity. The generation of new response alternatives that are equally efficient or even more efficient than the pre-established ones allows for modifications and flexibility of action in known situations, and can generate new results. In fact, nowadays the presence of creativity is a basic requirement to speak of intellectually gifted subjects.

Bibliographical references:

• Hernangómez, L. and Fernández, C. (2012). Personality and differential psychology. Manual CEDE de Preparación PIR, 07. CEDE: Madrid.

• Guilford. J.P. (1977). The nature of human intelligence. Buenos Aires, Paidós.