According to Guilford’s Structure of Intellect (SOI) theory, a person’s success in general intelligence can be traced back to basic cognitive talents or intellectual elements. In his SOI model, he utilized up to 150 different mental capacities and organized them into three categories: operations, content, and products. He set out to create tests for every situation possible of ability on these three dimensions, with the expectation that a person could be remarkably gifted in some of these talents while lacking in others. Guilford researched and developed a wide range of neuropsychological tests to assess the abilities predicted by the SI principle. These tests put Guilford’s theory of intelligence’s many qualities into practice. To determine which assessments reflected similar or slightly dissimilar competencies, factor analysis was used.
SI consists of five major categories of data to which the human intellect applies the six operations listed below:
- Visual – Visual information refers to data obtained through the sense of sight.
- Auditory – Auditory information is analyzed using the sense of hearing.
- Kinesthetic – Kinesthetic information is received through the movement of the body.
- Symbolic – Symbolic information is defined as symbols or signals that have no meaning in and of themselves.
- Semantics – Semantics focuses on the meaning and concepts transmitted by words.
- Behavioral – Behavioral information is believed to be the outcome of human actions.
