ABSTRACT
It is most gratifying to have been accorded the status of “the Spearman lecturer” in the first of a projected series of seminars concerned with intellectual abilities. I hope that the thoughts I express in this chapter are not considered in any way to devalue or detract from the enormous contribution of Charles Spearman to the study of intelligence. Spearman, after all, laid the groundwork for practically every research endeavor in this domain from his time up to the present, and his influence will certainly continue to be felt for a long time into the future. I find myself in agreement with much of Spearman’s thinking, as expressed in his various works such as The Nature of Intelligence and the Principles of Cognition (1923) and The Abilities of Man: Their Nature and Measurement (1927). Where I (or anyone) could justifiably differ with him consists chiefly in matters that have become clearer through the research of the past seven decades, that has been accomplished with more precise and comprehensive methods than were available to him. Even so, it is remarkable how much our present-day theories and methods rely on principles and procedures that he established during his lifetime. Although some discussions might suggest that his ideas were challenged in fundamental ways by subsequent investigators such as L. L. Thurstone, P. E. Vernon, R. B. Cattell, and J. P. Guilford, it now appears that these later investigators merely refined and elaborated Spearman’s views, in some ways for the better, and in some ways, I think, for the worse.
