Understanding Multiple Intelligences
“I am a visual learner.” commented a workshop participant. “But they tell me the only way I can learn is by doing. For me, I need both.”
Building a culture requires an understanding of learning, especially if you want people to learn new tools that they can apply to change behavior. One thing to remember, of course, is that no one is just one or the other of these types. We are all a combination of different things that, when taken together, give us a complete learning experience.
“How would the proverbial Martian landing on Earth view the intelligence of the human species?” That is the provocative question of Harvard education professor Howard Gardner.
Would (he?) demand to know individual IQs? Or would they be interested in those humans who perform exceptionally well in particular fields: the chess master, the conductor, perhaps even the athlete? These accomplished people are undoubtedly considered talented and intelligent. So why do our intelligence assessment methods often fail to identify them? Why do people with an IQ of 160 end up working for people with an IQ of 100?
Gardener developed the “Theory of Multiple Intelligences” which says, in effect, that IQ should not be measured as an absolute number like height, weight, or blood pressure. It is a crucial mistake, he argues, to assume that IQ is a single fixed entity that can be measured with a paper-and-pencil test.
It’s not about how smart you are, but how smart you are, says Gardner. As human beings, we all have a repertoire of abilities, he says, for solving different kinds of problems. And he defines intelligence this way: “An intelligence is an ability to solve a problem or create a product that is valued in one or more cultural settings.”
Gardner revealed his theory in his groundbreaking book “Frames of Mind” in which he described seven different intelligences. He subsequently added an octave.
Here are the 8 intelligences:
linguistic intelligence
The ability to read, write and communicate with words. Authors, journalists, poets, speakers, and comedians are obvious examples of people with linguistic intelligence.
Famous examples: Charles Dickens, Abraham Lincoln, TS Eliot, Sir Winston Churchill.
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
The ability to reason and calculate, to think things through logically and systematically. These are the types of skills highly developed in engineers, scientists, economists, accountants, detectives, and members of the legal profession.
Famous examples: Albert Einstein, John Dewey.
visuospatial intelligence
The ability to think in pictures, to visualize a future result. Imagining things in your mind’s eye. Architects, sculptors, sailors, photographers and strategic planners. You use it when you have a sense of direction, when you navigate or draw.
Famous examples: Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright.
Musical intelligence
The ability to make or compose music, sing well, or understand and appreciate music. To keep the rhythm. It’s a talent that’s obviously enjoyed by musicians, songwriters, and recording engineers. But most of us have a musical intelligence that can be developed. Think about how helpful it is to learn with a jingle or rhyme (eg, “Thirty days is September…”).
Famous examples: Mozart, Leonard Bernstein, Ray Charles.
Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence
The ability to skillfully use your body to solve problems, create products, or present ideas and emotions. An ability that obviously shows for athletics, dancing, acting, artistically, or in construction. You can include surgeons in this category, but many people who are physically gifted, “good with their hands,” do not recognize that this form of intelligence is of equal value to other intelligences.
Famous examples: Charlie Chaplin, Michael Jordan.
Interpersonal (social) intelligence
The ability to work effectively with others, relate to other people, and show empathy and understanding, to realize their motivations and goals. This is a vital human intelligence displayed by good teachers, facilitators, therapists, politicians, religious leaders, and salespeople.
Famous Examples: Ronald Reagan, Terry Fox, Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen
Intrapersonal intelligence
The capacity for self-analysis and reflection: being able to silently contemplate and evaluate one’s own achievements, review one’s behavior and innermost feelings, make plans and set goals, the ability to know oneself. Philosophers, counselors, and many leading artists in all fields of endeavor have this form of intelligence.
Famous examples: Freud, Eleanor Roosevelt, Plato.
In 1996, Gardner decided to add an eighth (naturalistic) intelligence, and despite much speculation, he resisted the temptation to add a spiritualistic ninth intelligence.
naturalistic intelligence
The ability to recognize flora and fauna, to make other consequential distinctions in the natural world, and to use this ability productively, for example, in hunting, agriculture, or the biological sciences. Farmers, botanists, conservationists, biologists, environmentalists, all would display aspects of intelligence.
Famous examples: Charles Darwin, EO Wilson.