ABSTRACT

Mental abilities can take many forms, but there is consensus regarding the existence of a broad general factor underpinning such specific abilities and that this general factor can influence performance in a wide range of everyday activities. Mental ability tests were devised at the beginning of the 20th century to identify children who had special educational needs. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the questions in the tests reflected the subject areas which featured in primary and elementary education; i.e. verbal and numerical reasoning skills. The ability test which the managers in the SME directors' sample completed was just one of 16 'narrowband' factors included in a general personality questionnaire to achieve comprehensiveness as a measure of personality. It contained only 13 items, in contrast to dedicated IQ tests which can have up to 60 questions. Of the 13 items, it is notable that 11 contained a verbal reasoning challenge and that none involved diagrammatical reasoning.