Intelligence

Views on Intelligence

The unitary view provides the basis for the structure and theoretical underpinnings of the most commonly used IQ tests. These tests comprise many different subtests that measure different abilities, but a measure of g—full-scale IQ—is calculated from all subtests. Four separate aggregate scores are also calculated from subtests with similar content (e.g., different aspects of verbal ability). Because these “index” scores are calculated from more than one subtest, they provide stable measures of verbal ability, spatial ability, working memory, and processing speed. Scores [Page 621]are also calculated separately for each subtest. Index scores are standardized so that they have the same mean and standard deviation, as are subtest scores. Thus, they can be compared, and an intellectual profile can be created for anyone who is tested, highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses. In absolute terms, though, an individual's profile tends to be relatively high or low across indexes or subtests.

A piano teacher instructs her young pupil in her home. The association between music training and academic achievement is well documented. In fact, musically trained children perform better in school than would be expected from their IQ, although this partial association can disappear when individual personality differences are held constant. In one study, children who took private music lessons outside of school had higher grades in every school subject except sports than children without lessons.

The opposing view holds that intelligence is multidimensional, with each dimension more or less independent from the others. A widely known proponent of this view is Howard Gardner who in 1983 developed the theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner claimed that there are seven different intelligences, one of which is musical intelligence. Three others are labeled logico-mathematical, spatial, and linguistic, which correspond closely to abilities measured by standard IQ tests. Musical and the remaining intelligences (bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential were added later) do not, but Gardner considers them to be intelligences because he defines intelligence as any ability that is valued by society. Supporting evidence comes primarily from brain-damaged individuals with isolated deficits (e.g., aphasia) and from individuals who are particularly skillful in one particular domain (e.g., musical savants, figure skaters). Gardner's theory has been very influential among educators because it allows most individuals to be good, or relatively good, in at least one domain.

Jerry Fodor's 1983 theory of modularity is similar in some respects to the proposal of multiple intelligences. Fodor claims that some abilities (e.g., linguistic, face processing) are subserved by modules—localized, nonoverlapping areas in the brain. Information relevant to the module (e.g., speech in the case of language) is [Page 622]processed obligatorily by—and only by—the appropriate module. The most enthusiastic proponent of modularity for music is Isabelle Peretz, who argues that music is processed domain specifically by a functionally specialized module. Like Gardner, Peretz relies heavily on evidence of individuals with an isolated deficit in music processing to make her case.

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