Guilford’s Structure of Intelligence (SOI) theory states that a person’s success in general intelligence can be traced to elemental intellectual talents or elements of intelligence. He uses as many as 150 mental abilities and divides them into three categories in his SOI model: activity, content, and product. Anticipating that an individual might be particularly gifted in some of these talents but deficient in others, he created tests for each possible ability scenario along these three dimensions.
Guilford has researched and developed a variety of neuropsychological tests to assess talent as predicted by SI principles. These tests implement several features of Guilford’s theory of intelligence. Use factor analysis to see which ratings reflect similar or slightly different abilities. J.P. Gilford, a psychologist, developed tests to select individuals for flight testing during World War II. Expanding his research interests to include the assessment of several other specialized reasoning skills, he created a model to guide his research and organize his thoughts on all the other talents he was simultaneously teaching. Guilford is widely credited with inspiring the discipline of psychology to begin studying the phenomenon of creativity.
