Charles Spearman: biography of this experimental psychologist

Modern psychology and, especially, its experimental branch, would not be the same had it not been for the great contributions of Charles spearman.

This English psychologist is widely known in the field of research for his statistical contributions to the study of psychological processes, in addition to being the author of one of the best known theories about human intelligence within the ambit.

Let's take a closer look at the life of Charles Spearman, whose life, by turns of events, went from being aimed at defending the country from him to focusing on the intellectual abilities of human beings.

• Recommended article: "Intelligence: the G Factor and Charles Spearman's Bifactorial Theory"

Biography of Charles Spearman

Charles Edward Spearman was born in London, United Kingdom, on September 10, 1863, dying in the same city on September 17, 1945, at the age of 82.

A late start

Spearman's beginnings in the field of psychology could be considered late, because he began his studies in 1898, being 34 years old.

and after having been part, for 15 years, as an officer in the second battalion of the Royal Munster Fusiliers in India (1885-1897).

His decision to begin studies in experimental psychology was possibly influenced by the fact that that, while he was in the Indian subcontinent, he documented about this discipline in his moments free.

At that time, British psychology was characterized by being considered a branch of philosophy. That is why Charles Spearman preferred to go abroad, specifically to Leipzig, Germany, to be able to study studies in experimental psychology, which had a certain independence with respect to the field of philosophy.

Spearman had the opportunity to receive insights from the very WundtHowever, he did not share his taste in focusing on basic psychological processes, both cognitive and perceptual, the British feeling a predilection for more complex situations that occur in real life, such as, for example, performance school.

After spending two years studying psychology at the University of Leipzig, he was drafted to serve Great Britain in the Second Boer War (1899-1902). He returned from the conflict, finally graduating in psychology in 1907.

Publications and fame

Spearman's popularity is mainly due to the publication of two articles in the American Journal of Psychology in 1904, when he was still studying psychology. To this day, these two articles continue to have an impact, with more than 2,000 citations each.

The first, 'The proof and measurement of association between two things', sought to expand Galton's idea of ​​the correlation coefficient.

Spearman, despite considering the findings made by Galton, and other notable great researchers such as Pearson and Bravais, did not consider them so useful for the field of experimental psychology, believing that they should be reformulated and adapted to the demands of the discipline.

In that same article, Spearman introduces the concept of partial correlation, as a way of controlling strange variables.

The other article, ‘general intelligence, objectively determined and measured’, Charles Spearman makes a critical of previous experimental research, in addition to trying to demonstrate the strength of the coefficient of correlation.

He read about previous studies that had failed to find correlations, and pointed out possible flaws methodological, together with the lack of motivation of the participants and errors when measuring and analyzing the results.

Influence on psychology

Following the publication of the two aforementioned articles, Spearman was offered a position at the University College of London to take over the experimental psychology program at that university, in addition to working as a professor at the institution.

This was the seed for the emergence of what was called 'the London school of individual differences', in which characters of the stature of Raymond Cattell were members, Hans eysenck and Cyril Burt, among others, for about 30 years. Spearman and his students continued to address human intelligence and its nature, publishing "The Abilities of Man" in 1927.

The two main contributions to Spearman's psychology are explained in more detail below, in special, in the field of the study of intelligence and the use of statistics in research psychological.

Intelligence theory

Spearman presented his bifactorial theory of intelligence, according to which the execution of any mental activity depends on two different factors.

First, there is the general factor or 'g', which is the common basis of intelligence and that, although it occurs in a variable way according to the individual, it remains stable in the individual for any situation.

Second are the specific factors or 's', which are all specific capabilities, which are not they only appear differently between individuals, but also vary between capacities of the same person.

Thus, according to Spearman's view of intelligence, This construct is understood in such a way that there is a general factor that is stable in the person and a series of specific factors, which are independent of each other, which are manifested in the form of varied aptitude strengths and weaknesses.

This proposal by Spearman did not leave anyone indifferent, in addition to being one of the first investigations in which he applied the factorial analysis and contributed the correlation coefficient that carries his own surname.

Thurstone in 1938 he criticized what was observed by Spearman, since he defended the idea of ​​the existence of multiple intelligences or intellectual aptitudes, which occurred in a varied way.

This author initially claimed that there were at least seven: numerical, reasoning, spatial, perceptual, memory, verbal fluency and verbal comprehension.

Later, Thurstone himself agreed with Spearman regarding the existence of a general factor among the measures of abilities. Years later, in 1963, Cattell he also supported Spearman's ideas, but with changes in defining the factors behind intelligence.

Cattell proposed the existence of two types of factors, which differ according to age: fluid intelligence, more or less similar to Spearman's 'g' factor, and crystallized intelligence, more related to knowledge in a more cultural sense of word.

Today there is still debate about whether or not there are different qualities in terms of intelligence, although the majority position is that there are.

The great contribution of Spearman, the existence that there is at least one factor present in all the performances in which requires the use of intelligence, it is still considered one of the great discoveries within psychology experimental.

Factor analysis and Spearman's correlation coefficient

Factor analysis is a statistical method used to find relationships between multiple measures considered correlated. Spearman contributed significantly to the refinement of this method. It was he who coined the term factor analysis and used it to the extent of multiple cognitive aspects.

In fact, it was the results obtained through factor analysis that allowed Spearman to postulate the concepts of general factor and specific factor.

Spearman applied mathematical procedures while conducting his research in experimental psychology, trying to describe and explore from a statistical perspective psychological phenomena, something that has come to significantly influence the discipline of the mind and behavior until our days.

The Spearman correlation coefficient allows you to correlate two variables by ranges instead of measuring their performance separately.

Bibliographic references:

• Spearman, C. (1904a). "General Intelligence," objectively determined and measured. American Journal of Psychology, 15 (2), 201-292.
• Spearman, C. (1904b). The proof and measurement of association between two things. The American Journal of Psychology, 15 (1), 72-101.
• Spearman, C. (1927). The abilities of man. Oxford England: Macmillan.