Factor theory on education 1656733821.pptx

two factor theory

1. SPEARMAN’S TWO FACTOR THEORY This theory was advocated by Spearman. According to him, each intellectual activity involves a general factor ‘g’ which represents the general mental energy or power that functions in person’s overall mental activities and a specific factor ‘s’ which belongs to it alone.

2. The factor ‘g’ is thus present in all specific activities. The total ability or intelligence ‘A’ of an individual, thus, will be expressed by the following equation: g + s 1 + s 2 + s 3 + … = A

3. According to Spearman every individual has one ‘g’ factor and some ‘s’ factors or specific abilities. The ‘g’ factor is always the same for the same person and the ‘s’ factor varies from tasks to tasks. Different individuals differ both in their ‘g’ as well as ‘s’ factor.

4. These two factors can be explained in the following ways: 1) ‘g’ factor : The factor ‘g’ or general ability represents the nature of intelligence. It is considered as playing some role in almost all human activities. Every individual has one ‘g’ factor and this factor determines his success in any field of knowledge.

5. The main characteristics of the ‘g’ factor are the following: It is inborn ability The amount of ‘g’ differs from person to person It is used in every life activity Greater the ‘g’ in an individual greater the success in life

6. 2) ‘s’ factor : There is more than one specific factor in an individual. The main characteristics of ‘s’ factor are as follows: It is not inborn and is learned and acquired in the environment It varies from activity to activity in the same individual Individuals differ in the amount of ‘s’ ability There may be several ‘s’ factors in an individual

7. Criticism This two factor theory of Spearman has been criticized on various grounds: 1) Spearman held that intelligence may be expressed in terms of two factors, but as we have seen that, there are not only two but several factors ( g + s 1 + s 2 + s 3 + …)

8. 2) According to Spearman, each job requires some specific ability. This view was untenable as it implied that there is nothing common to different jobs except a general factor and professions such as those of nurses, compounders and doctors could not be put in one group.

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