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Inmostwesterntheoriesgeneralintelligenceisrecognisedasahigher-orderfactorof
humanabilities(cf.Carroll,1993).Thetheoreticalperspectivesuggeststhatthereare
varioustypesofabilitieswhicharedifferentfromgeneralintelligenceorevenanumber
oftypesofintelligences(Sternberg,2002).Mostclassicaswellasmodernmodelsof
intelligencedefineitasasetofseparate,butcorrelatedabilities.Basically,allintelli-
gencetheoriescanbedividedintotwogroups:hierarchicalmodelsandmulti-primary-
-factormodels.
1.2.1.Hierarchicalmodelsofcognitiveabilities
Themostinfluentialtheoryofhumanintelligencewasgtheory,referredtoasatwo-
-factortheory,proposedbyCharlesSpearmanin1927.Adiscoverythatdifferentability
testscorrelatewitheachotherconvincedSpearmanthattheremightbeonecommon
factorunderlyingallthevariables.Bymeansoffactoranalysis–astatisticalmethod
inventedbyhimself–heanalysedintercorrelationsbetweenintelligencetestsscoresin
ordertoidentifythesourcesofindividualdifferencesunderlyingtheobservedpatterns
ofcorrelationsbetweenthesetests.Thefactoranalysisrevealedtheexistenceoftwo
factors:thegeneralgfactor,whichsaturatesallintelligencetests,andaspecificsfactor
(orratheragroupofsfactors),presentonlyinsingletests.Spearmandeclaredthatgis
asortof‘mentalenergy’,thatisabasicabilityofthenervoussystemtoperformtasks.
Theamountofmentalenergywhichcanbeallottedtotasksisconstantinanervous
system.Therefore,ifataskrequiresmoreenergy,performanceonothertaskswilldete-
riorate,but,ifthetaskceasestoabsorbenergy,itcanbeallocatedtotheneglectedtasks
whichcannowbeperformedbetter.Asaresult,anindividualwillalwaysexpendthe
sameamountofenergy.This‘mentalenergy’canbeassociatedwiththecontemporary
notionofattentionandworkingmemory(cf.Robinson,2003).AccordingtoNęcka
(2003),aleadingPolishintelligenceresearcher,thishypothesisgrantsSpearmanapio-
neeringpositionincognitivepsychologywhichaccountsforindividualdifferencesin
intelligence,memorycapacityandattentioncontrol.
Spearman’stwo-factortheorywasextendedinmanyhierarchicalmodelsofintelli-
gence,ofwhichthemostoftenreferredtoinclude:Vernon’s(1950)HierarchicalModel
ofIntelligence;Cattell’s(1971)HierarchicalModelofCognitiveAbilities;andJensen’s
(1998)Two-LevelModelofcognitiveability.Vernon’s(1950)modelwasthefirsttruly
hierarchicalmodelofcognitiveabilities.Itincludesthegfactor,whichdominatestwo
lower-orderfactors:verbal/educationalandspatial/mechanical,which,inturn,dominate
variousminorgroupfactors,which,inturn,dominateverynarrowandspecificfactors.
Cattell(1971)dividedintelligence(g)intofluid(Gf)andcrystallised(Gc).Hede-
finedfluidintelligenceastheabilitytoperceivecomplexrelationsamongsymbolsand
tomanipulatethemirrespectiveoftheirmeaning.Thisintelligenceisindependentofthe
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