BHATIA’S BATTERY AND GENERAL MENTAL ABILITY

Introduction
Since there is a lot of overlap between lay and professional conceptions of intelligence,
describing it may at first appear pointless: Both think that performance disparities can be
attributed to specific mental or psychological processes, and that both biological and
environmental variables have the potential to influence these variations. Less consensus
exists, nevertheless, on how these measurable differences, which skills are more crucial, and
whether those who perform well on certain abilities will also perform well less than other
“Viewed narrowly, there seem to be almost as many definitions of intelligence as there were
experts asked to define it.'' As R. J. Sternberg quoted. There are several definitions of
intelligence,
 “Intelligence is not a single, unitary ability, but rather a composite of several
functions. The term denotes that combination of abilities required for survival and
advancement within a particular culture.” A. Anastasi (1992)
 “It seems to us that in intelligence there is a fundamental faculty, the alteration or the
lack of which, is of the utmost importance for practical life. This faculty is judgement,
otherwise called good sense, practical sense, initiative, the faculty of adapting one’s
self to circumstances.” Binet (1905)
 The capacity to inhibit an instinctive adjustment, the capacity to redefine the inhibited
instinctive adjustment in light of imaginally experienced trial and error, and the
capacity to realize the modified instinctive adjustment in overt behaviour to the
advantage of the individual as a social animal. Thurstone (1921)
 A global concept that involves an individual’s ability to act purposefully, think
rationally, and deal effectively with the environment. Wechsler (1953)
 “Intelligence is the ability to process information properly in a complex environment.
The criteria of properness are not predefined and hence not available beforehand.
They are acquired as a result of the information processing.” Nakashima (1999)
 “Individuals differ from one another in their ability to understand complex ideas, to
adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various
forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought.” American
Psychological Association (1996)
Some theories of intelligence are given below:
The faculty idea was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries and is the oldest explanation
about the nature of intelligence. This idea holds that the mind consists of a variety of
capacities, including logic, memory, discrimination, imagination, etc. These faculties can be
cultivated through rigorous training and are independent of one another. Experimental
psychologists who disputed the presence of independent faculties in the brain have criticised
the Faculty Theory. Next, the "one factor" or "UNI factor" approach boils down all skills
to a single ability known as "common sense." This would suggest that they are all perfectly
connected and would not take into account individual differences in ability. It lacks support
since it contradicts the axiom that "an individual does possess varying levels of diverse
abilities and does not shine evenly in all directions."
The two-factor theory of Charles Spearman, an English psychologist, invented it in 1904
and argued that intellectual abilities were made up of two factors: one common or general
ability known as the "G" factor, and the other a group of specific abilities known as the "S"
factor. It is a quality that everyone is born with. A person who has a higher G will succeed
more in life. The "S" factor is learned by the surroundings. It differs from one action to the
next in the same person. According to Cattell’s fluid and crystallized theory, The fluid
aspect of this theory says that intelligence is a basic capacity due to genetic potentiality.
While this is affected by the past and new experiences, the crystallized theory is a capacity
resultant of experiences, learning and environment.
According to the multifactor theory of Thorndike: Thorndike thought that General Ability
was unique. Each mental activity necessitates a diverse combination of skills. He
differentiated four different types of intelligence:
(a) Level—refers to the level of difficulty of a task that can be solved.
(b) Range—refers to a number of tasks at any given degree of difficulty.
(c) Area—means the total number of situations at each level to which the individual is able
to respond.
(d) Speed—is the rapidity with which we can respond to the items.
As per Thurstone: Primary mental abilities/Group factor theory, which combines the
concepts of primary mental talents and group elements, intelligent activities are not the
culmination of countless highly particular components, as Thorndike asserted. It also does not
primarily express a universal quality that permeates all mental activity.
According to Spearman, it is the essence of intelligence. Instead, Spearman and others came
to the conclusion from their study and interpretation that "some" mental operations have a
"primary" element that gives them psychological and functional unity and that distinguishes
them from other mental operations. A second group of mental operation has its own unifying
primary factor, and so on. In other words, there are several groups of mental abilities, each of
which has its own primary factor, giving the group a functional unity and cohesiveness. Each
of these primary factors is said to be relatively independent of the others.
Thurstone has given the following six primary factors :
(i) The Number Factor (N)—Ability to do Numerical Calculations rapidly and accurately.
(ii) The Verbal Factor (V)—Found in tests involving Verbal Comprehension.
(iii) The Space Factor (S)—Involved in any task in which the subject manipulates the
imaginary object in space.
(iv) Memory (M)—Involving ability to memorize quickly.
(v) the Word Fluency Factor (W)—Involved whenever the subject is asked to think of
isolated words at a rapid rate.
(vi) The Reasoning Factor (R)—Found in tasks that require a subject to discover a rule or
principle involved in a series or groups of letters.
Based on these factors Thurstone constructed a new test of intelligence known as ‘‘Test of
Primary Mental Abilities (PMA).’’

In the 1983 book "Frames of Mind, The Theory of Multiple Intelligence," Howard Gardner
presents a novel and distinctive understanding of human intellectual abilities. He makes a
brave and persuasive claim that we are all born with the capacity to acquire a variety of forms
of intelligence, the majority of which have been ignored in our testing society and all of
which may be used to help us become competent people. Gardner claims that we must add
"the multiple forms of intelligence that we must add to the conventional—and typical tested
—logical and linguistic skills long called I.Q." These abilities include the potential for
musical accomplishments, bodily mastery and spatial reasoning, and the capacities to
understand ourselves as well as others. The multiple intelligence theory is that people possess
eight types of intelligence : linguistic, logical, spatial, musical, motor ability, interpersonal,
intrapersonal and naturalistic intelligence
Sternberg’s triarchic theory: Psychologist Robert Sternberg (1985) has postulated a three—
pronged, or triarchic theory of intelligence. The Three types are :
Analytical Intelligence is what we normally think of as academic ability. It enables us to
solve problems and to acquire new knowledge. Problem-solving skill including encoding
information, combining and comparing pieces of information and generating a solution.
Creative Intelligence is defined by the abilities to cope with novel situations and to profit
from an experience. The ability to quickly relate novel situations to familiar situations (that
is, to perceive similarities and differences) fosters adaptation. Moreover, as a result of
experience, we also become able to solve problems more rapidly.
Practical Intelligence or ‘‘street smarts’’, enable people to adapt to the demands of their
environment. For example, keeping a job by adapting one’s behaviour to the employer’s
requirements is adaptive. But if the employer is making unreasonable demands, reshaping the
environment (by changing the employer’s attitudes) or selecting an alternate environment (by
finding a more suitable job) is also adaptive.
Eysenck’S Structural Theory: The neurological foundations of intelligence were found by
Eysenck. He determined that average evoked potential, reaction time, and inspection time are
the three correlates of intelligence.
First two are actions that have been seen. The third behaviour is a mental wave description. A
more intelligent person responds with less delay over time. Their reaction times exhibit less
variation. In addition to being less clever, they also have shorter inspection times.
Electroencephalogram waveform complexity and wavelength are frequently used to estimate
average evoked potential. He discovered that the waves of bright people are intricate.
Guilford (1967, 1985, 1988) proposed a three-dimensional structure of intellect model.
According to Guilford’s Model of Structure of Intellect every intellectual task can be
classified according to it’s (1) content, (2) the mental operation involved and (3) the product
resulting from the operation. He further classified content into five main categories, namely,
Visual, Auditory, Symbolic, Semantic and Behavioural. He classified operations into five
categories, Cognition, Memory retention, Memory recording, Divergent production,
Convergent production and evaluation. He classified products into six categories, namely,
Units, Classes, Relations, Systems, Transformations, and Implications.