Facts about Charles Spearman
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A German-trained psychologist, Spearman earned his doctorate from the University of Leipzig under Wilhelm Wundt, one of psychology's founding figures.
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Spearman's tetrad difference criterion, a mathematical method he developed to test whether data fit a single-factor model, provided early statistical validation for the existence of general intelligence.
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Before developing his statistical methods, Spearman served as a British Army officer and military psychologist, applying psychological principles to soldier recruitment and training during the early 1900s.
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Spearman's work on factor analysis in the early 1900s introduced the concept of general intelligence, abbreviated as g, which became central to twentieth-century psychological research.
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The British psychologist's 1927 book The Abilities of Man synthesized decades of research on factor analysis and established him as a founding figure in differential psychology.
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During his 40-year career at University College London, Spearman trained numerous influential psychologists who advanced intelligence testing and statistical methods throughout the 20th century.
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Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, developed in 1904, became a fundamental statistical tool for measuring the relationship between two ranked variables in nonparametric analysis.
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In 1904, psychologist Charles Spearman published his two-factor theory of intelligence, proposing that mental abilities depend on general intelligence and specific skills.