Types of intelligence
“Only if we expand and reformulate our view of what counts as human intellect will we be able to devise more appropriate ways of assessing it and more effective ways of educating it.”
FRAMES OF MIND BY HOWARD GARDNER
“In my view, it is fine to call music or spatial ability a talent, so long as one calls language or logic a talent as well. But I balk at the unwarranted assumption that certain abilities can be arbitrarily singled out as qualifying as intelligence while others cannot.”
In a nutshell
Many different forms of intelligence are not measured by IQ testing.
Years ago, the general public largely accepted the idea that intelligence could simply be measured through an IQ, or Intelligence Quotient, test. A high IQ meant you were smart and were given certain opportunities in life, and a low IQ meant you were a bit slow, with your opportunities restricted accordingly.
Gardner’s book popularized the idea that the logical-mathematical or “general” intelligence normally measured by IQ tests might not actually be a good measure of a person’s potential. IQ testing may have been reasonably effective at predicting how well you did on school subjects, but not great at gauging your ability to compose a symphony, win a political campaign, program a computer, or master a foreign tongue. Gardner replaced the question “How smart are you?” with a wiser, more inclusive “How are you smart?”.
We intuitively know that how well we do in school does not determine our success in life. and everyone knows very brainy people who have not amounted to much. Similarly, we would find it hard to believe that the achievements of figures such as Mozart, Henry Ford, Gandhi, or Churchill were merely the result of “high IQ”. This book while going against conventional wisdom, actually gives us an appreciation of intelligence close to what we already know: that we each have different ways of being intelligent, and that success comes from refining and utilizing these intelligences across a lifetime.
Gardner claims that all human beings possess a unique blend of seven intelligences through which we engage with the world and seek our fulfillment. These “frames of mind” include two that are typically valued in traditional education, three that are usually associated with the arts, and two that he calls “personal intelligences”.
Linguistic intelligence
This involves appreciation of language, the ability to learn new languages, and the capability to use language to accomplish certain goals. Those high in this intelligence may be good persuaders or storytellers, and can use humor to their advantage. Writers, poets, journalists, lawyers, and politicians are among those likely to have high linguistic intelligence.
Logical-mathematical intelligence
This is the capacity to analyze problems, carry out mathematical operations, and approach subjects scientifically. In Gardner’s words, it entails the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively, and think logically. Along with linguistic intelligence, it is what IQ tests mainly measure. Logical-mathematical intelligence is often associated with scientists, researchers, mathematicians, computer programmers, accountants, and engineers.
Musical intelligence
People with musical intelligence actually think in terms of sounds, rhythms and musical patterns. It encompasses skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. Typical occupations employing this intelligence include musicians, disk jockeys, singers, composers, and music critics.
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
This involves the ability to control and coordinate complex physical movements, to express ourselves in movement. This can include body language, mime, and acting, as well as the full range of sporting pursuits. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is expected to be particularly high in sports people dancers, actors, jugglers, and gymnasts, but also professions where balance and coordination are vital, such as firefighting.
Visual-spatial intelligence
This is the ability to perceive objects in space accurately, to have an idea of “where things should go”. Sculptors and architects need a high degree of spatial intelligence, as do navigators, visual artists, interior designers, and engineers.
Interpersonal intelligence
Interpersonal intelligence is the capacity to understand other people’s objectives, motivations, and desires. It is instrumental in building relationships. Educators, marketing executives, salespeople, counselors, and political figures are examples of individuals with high interpersonal intelligence.
Intrapersonal intelligence
This is the ability to understand the self with a heightened awareness of our feelings and motivations. This intelligence helps us to develop an effective working model of ourselves and use our self-understanding to regulate our lives. Writers and philosophers tend to have this intelligence in abundance.
Implications for how we learn
Gardner’s theory presents a huge challenge to established educational models, because if we accept the idea that each person combines a unique array of intelligences, we require a carefully tuned educational system to enable their potential to be realized. Gardner admits that psychology cannot directly dictate education policy. and that further study is required to prove the existence of multiple intelligences in the first place. Yet his general inference is that an education system that takes account of the specialness of each child cannot be a bad thing.
Final comments
Will we always be measured in terms of “IQ”, or will Gardner’s ideas overthrow current systems of intelligence testing. Most people don’t realize that intelligence testing has been with us for over 100 years, with the first attempts at measurement devised by French psychologists Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon in 1905. It is a relatively easy and cheap way to sort large numbers of people according to “merit”, and has become well established as a result. Yet the idea of multiple intelligences will not go away as long as people feel their true worth has not been recognized.
What ultimately matters is not a supposedly objective test of intelligence, but our own beliefs about whether we are capable of something and our discipline to follow through. Gardner calls this the “ability to solve problems within our environment”. The people we most admire are smart in certain ways, they have refined their way of thinking and doing to an unusual extent. More than raw intelligence, they have judgment.
Perhaps the lesson of Gardner’s book, therefore, is that we should stop worrying about how we measure up to some arbitrary standard of brain power, because the really smart people are those who know exactly what they are good at and live their life around that knowledge. There is a big distinction between simply possessing mental, physical, or social abilities, and actually deploying them to achieve success.
Sources: 50 ps by Tom butler-bowdon, Frames of Mind by Howard Gardner.