Structure of

Intellect
(J.P. Guilford)

BIODATA

Joy Paul Guilford, a American

psychologist
Born March 7, 1897 in Nebraska
Professor of Psychology in University of
Nebraska
designed a model of intelligence in
1955

Structure of Intellect (SI)

All mental abilities are conceptualized within a
three-dimensional framework.
1. Content (type of information)
2. Product (form in which the information is
represented)
3. Operation (type of mental activity
performed)

THE FEATURES OF SI
These 5 x 6 x 6 = 180 mental abilities

Content features

Five content dimensions (broad areas of information to

which the human intellect applies operations) :
1. Visual : information perceived through seeing
2. Auditory : information perceived through hearing
3. Symbolic : information perceived as symbols or signs
that stand for something else (arabic numerals,
alphabets, musical and scientific notations)
4. Semantic : concerned with verbal meaning and ideas
5. Behavioral : information perceived as acts of people

THE FEATURES OF SI
Product features

Six products, in increasing complexity :

1. Units : single items of knowledge (shapes, words)
2. Classes : ability to organize common attributes into
groups
3. Relations : ability to sense opposites, associations,
sequences, or analogies
4. Systems : relationship among more than two units.
5. Transformations : changes, perspectives, conversions,
or mutations to knowledge( rotation of visual figures)
6. Implications : predictions, inferences, consequences, or
anticipations of knowledge( expectattions)

THE FEATURES OF SI
Operation features

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Six operations (general intellectual processes) :

Cognition : the ability to understand, comprehend,
discover, and become aware of information
Memory recording : the ability to encode information
Memory retention : the ability to recall information
Divergent production : the ability to generate multiple
solutions to a problem (creativity)
Convergent production : the ability to deduce a single
solution to a problem (rule-following or problem-solving)
Evaluation : the ability to judge whether or not
information is accurate, consistent, or valid

SITUATIONS

The cognition of semantic units has to do with

ones ability to recognize words, i.e. ones
vocabulary.
Cognition of Behavioural Transformations would
be the ability to perceive changes in the
expressions of an individual.
People differ in their abilities to remember not
only from other people, but also among various
kinds of information.
Some people who are poor at remembering faces
(behavioural units) may be excellent at
remembering puns (semantic transformations).

CRITICISM

Fails to take into account the existence of general factors

running through diverse tests
Butcher (1970), doubt on divergent and convergent
thinking, not demonstrated conclusively.
Varela (1969), does not provide grounds for interactions of
processes and product.
large number of factors in the model to be a reduction to
absurdity of the whole factorial approach (Eysenck, 1967)
Rotation revisited - not all psychometric theorists of
intelligence or creativity have used subjective rotations in
their factor analyses.
Interindividual nature of analysis - cognitive components of
abilities are intraindividual, exist within individual subjects.
Problems of Measurement - tests have been correlated
against other ratings of creativity, no resemblance to the
types of tasks used to assess creativity in adults.

KEY PRINCIPLES
1.
2.
3.
4.

Reasoning and problem-solving skills

(convergent and divergent operations)
Memory and Oppositions (30 different skills)
Decision-making skills (evaluation
operations)
Language-related skills (cognitive operations)

Based on a combination of the three

components of intelligences measures a wide
range of abilities needed for academic success.

IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION

The Structure of Intellects philosophy is

that intelligence is not fixed.
Intelligence can be learnt.
IQ tests implements narrow abilities where
the SI measures a wide variety of abilities.
Need to consider all students are different.

REFERENCES
Guilford, J. P. (1967). The nature of human intelligence.
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Robert J. Sternberg & Elena L. Grigorenko (2001) Guilford's
Structure of Intellect Model and Model of Creativity:
Contributions and Limitations, Creativity Research Journal,
13:3-4, 309-316, DOI: 10.1207/S15326934CRJ1334_08
http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/intellect.html
http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/guilford.html
http://www.cocreativity.com/handouts/guilford.pdf