Aptitudes in the definition and evaluation of the intelligence: contributions of fator analysis

Abstract

One part of the research in psychology about the definition and evaluation of the intelligence concerns the fixation of the number of the aptitudes and, in the case of a plural number of aptitudes, if these are independent or interdependent. The fator analysis, first exploratory and now confirmatory, has been the method par excellence, even without never to appoint which theory is correct. Not being the only theoretical approach of study intelligence by psychology, it had an important role in the research in this area and, above all, it is important to recognize its contribution in tests construction and validation for several domains of professional practice of psychologists. Even if criticized because its tendency to concentrate more in the products than in the inherent cognitive processes, the fatorial approach stays actual and productive in the psychology, and namely in the area of the intelligence.