Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory

Intelligence can be defined as the ability to learn new information and then apply that information in order to be able to carry out a particular task.

Thus an intelligent person is also thought to be a knowledgeable person, because they have spent a period of their life studying or training to acquire a physical or mental skill. In economics, this is also referred to as “human capital”.

Developing one’s intellectual faculties is an inherent part of modern-day society, and in general, the more knowledge or skills that a person acquires throughout the course of their life the more likely they are to enter a high paying profession.

Typically, the greater the knowledge that a position requires, the more specialized that knowledge is and the fewer people who have that knowledge, the more you can expect to be paid for doing it.

Due to the importance of intelligence in society, especially specialized intelligence, schooling, whether it be at college or university, is now considered to be a minimum requirement to be even considered for an employment position by many employers.

As a result, the large majority of teenagers and young adults in developed countries now undergo many years of formal education in order to qualify with a degree such as a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, a PhD or a medical degree to enhance their future career prospects.

How Do You Test IQ?

At school, intelligence is defined, measured and tested by exams. If you do well in your final exams, then you are considered to be smart or an intelligent person because you have demonstrated your ability to learn and apply new information which you have been taught throughout the year.

If you do poorly on your final exams however, then you are considered to be a person of lower intelligence in comparison to someone who did well, and depending on how badly you did, you may even be called dumb or stupid as a result of your grades.

The traditional view of intelligence, and that which society predominantly rewards, is to give the people who get good grades high paying jobs and those who get low grades low paying  jobs. Recently however, such as in the past few decades, psychologists have begun to question the traditional view of intelligence, that which is measured and defined by formal education training and examination.

Some argue that whilst test results do generally give a good indication as to a person’s level of intelligence for academic subjects, such results may be less valid in predicting how well a person is likely to do in non academic subjects.

There are many examples of millionaires and billionaires, such as Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg for example, who did not complete their formal educational training at college, yet despite being “college dropouts”, went on to become some of the richest people in the world.

Surely nobody can call these people stupid just because they don’t have a college degree?

It is quite obvious therefore, that it is possible to be and become an intelligent person without undergoing many years of formal education, which then leads on to the possibility of there being multiple forms of intelligence, forms of intelligence which are not necessarily recognized or assessed by college or university exams.

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Forms Of Intelligence

One psychologist who recognized the possibility of their being multiple forms of intelligence is Howard Gardner. Essentially, he proposed that a person can have one or more of the following types of intelligence:

•    Bodily-Kinesthetic
•    Interpersonal
•    Linguistic
•    Logical-Mathematical
•    Naturalistic
•    Intrapersonal
•    Spatial
•    Musical

As you can see from this list, there are eight different abilities that a person could be said to be intelligent at. Traditional schooling however, tends to only recognize two of these abilities: linguistic and logical-mathematical.

Gardner’s theory certainly is an interesting one, because it shows that just because a person may not have done well on a school exam, that doesn’t necessarily make them a dumb or a stupid person as there are other things that they could be good at.

This “revelation” is what is known as “common sense psychology”, because once you start thinking about it, you soon realize that it makes logical sense and can easily be supported with evidence and examples of people displaying a high level of skill in one or more of Gardner’s categories.

Below, we shall look at each of Gardner’s intelligence categories in more detail. It is important to note however, that although a person is likely to be intelligent in two or more categories, they will have an overall dominant intelligence in one particular category.

Bodily-Kinesthetic (Physical Activities)

People with bodily-kinesthetic intelligence tend to be especially good at doing activities which require high levels of bodily co-ordination, timing and balance. Such individuals therefore tend to excel at performing physical activities such as playing sports or dancing.

Typically, people with bodily-kinesthetic intelligence prefer learning things by physically doing them rather than reading or listening about them and so are generally very active and animated people.

Suitable jobs for bodily-kinesthetic people include :

• Athlete
• Explorer
• Dancer
• Actor
• Plumber
• Builder
• Surgeon

Interpersonal (People Person)

People with interpersonal intelligence tend to be good at reading other people’s feelings and moods. As a result, they usually get along very well with people and could be described as having an extroverted personality type.

They feel comfortable in social situations, enjoy speaking in public and are usually recognized as being a “popular” person at school or at work.

Interpersonal people tend to learn best by discussing things with other people, asking other people questions or teaching something that they have learnt to someone else in order to understand it better.

Suitable jobs for interpersonal people include :

• Politician
• Manager
• Diplomat
• Social worker
• Teacher
• Sales person

Linguistic (Good With Words + Language)

Linguistic intelligence means that a person is good with words, either in a spoken or written form. Typically, they are good at reading, writing, learning foreign languages and have good communication skills.

Linguistic intelligence individuals enjoy reading books for leisure, keeping a written diary, participating in online discussion forums, improving their spelling and learning new words to improve their vocabulary.

They learn best by reading about something and taking notes, and are also usually very good at explaining something clearly to other people.

They may however, become easily distracted by distractions in their environment, and so usually appreciate a quite place in which they can study.

Suitable jobs for linguistic people include  :

• Politician
• Lawyer
• Writer
• Teacher
• Speaker

Logical-Mathematical (Good At Research)

Logical-mathematical intelligence describes a person who is good at analyzing information, abstract reasoning and working with numbers.

They are also usually very good at investigating things and then drawing a conclusion based on the data that they have collected, such as when carrying out scientific research for example.

Logical-mathematical intelligence individuals enjoy doing crossword puzzles, playing brain training games, playing mental games such as Sudoku or chess, doing IQ tests and watching crime detective or mystery movies.

Such individuals learn best by having plenty of time to work something out on paper or in their head so that they can consider all the different alternatives and possible solutions to a particular problem.

Using the traditional view of intelligence, if you have a high level of logical-mathematical intelligence, you will score very well on IQ tests and formal academic tests and so will be considered to be a very intelligent person.

Suitable jobs for logical-mathematical people include  :

• Scientist
• Mathematician
• Detective
• Economist
• Doctor

Naturalistic (Likes Animals + Nature )

Naturalistic intelligence involves having a love of nature and the outdoors. Typically, such individuals love animals and will keep them as pets. They may also belong to an environmental welfare or animal welfare group.

Naturalistic intelligence individuals also appreciate plant life and are likely to keep plants in their home, grow plants in their garden and buy organic food. Being spiritual is also not uncommon for such people.

How naturalistic individuals learn best can vary depending on their other dominant forms of intelligence, although most will usually appreciate going outdoors to study or read if they are able to do so.

Suitable jobs naturalistic people include :

• Scientist
• Conservationist
• Farmer
• Naturalist
• Gardener
• Geography/ecology teacher
• Environmentalist

Intrapersonal (Deep Thinkers)

Almost the complete opposite of interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal individuals tend to be shy or feel uncomfortable in social situations, such as when speaking in front of other people or being in large groups as this can make them feel overly self-conscious or lost.

Intrapersonal people tend to be deep thinkers, enjoy spending time alone, meditating and are usually very self-aware of who they are and their emotions. They also tend to be perfectionists.

Intrapersonal individuals learn best in a quite environment in which they are free from distractions as they can be very easily disturbed by noise.

Suitable jobs for intrapersonal people include :

• Philosopher
• Psychologist
• Theologian
• Writer

Spatial (Good At Making Things)

People with spatial intelligence are good at thinking about something in their head and then creating it in reality.

They have good hand to eye co-ordination and are good at giving directions. People with this dominant form of intelligence are more often men than women.

Spatial intelligence individuals enjoy constructing models, drawing, playing with Lego, computer games or puzzles and will learn best if they are able to imagine something vividly in their mind.

Suitable jobs for spatial intelligence people include :

• Builder
• Architect
• Pilot
• Artist
• Fashion designer

Musical (Good At Music)

Musical intelligence involves being good with music, rhythm, hearing and pitch discrimination.

Typically, such people like to play a musical instrument and/or sing. They are also very fond of listening to music and so tend to buy lots of music records, music CDs or download MP3s.

People with this type of intelligence will learn best if they are able to make a rhyme, rap or song of something that they are trying to memorize.

Suitable jobs for those with musical intelligence include :

• Musician
• Singer
• Conductor
• Composer
• Radio host
• DJ

What Is Your Dominant Form Of Intelligence?

After reading this list of Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences, you may find that you fit into one or more categories. These categories are your dominant forms of intelligence, and are the things that you have a natural ability at.

If you are still unsure what your dominant forms of intelligence are, you can take this free multiple intelligence test to help you determine them.

The following video discusses how Howard Gardner’s multiple forms of intelligence can be applied to learning in the classroom.

Final Thoughts

If before reading this article you did not consider yourself to be an “intelligent person”, then I hope you are now starting to reconsider that false belief.

We all have different forms of intelligence, and different people are “intelligent” at different things. For example, David Beckham is someone who I consider to be extremely intelligent.

If you had not read this article you would have probably laughed at that statement, but he is clearly very good at football (soccer) and so it’s obvious that his dominant form of intelligence is Bodily-Kinesthetic because he is very good at playing a sport.

However, David is probably not a very good mathematician, but by focusing his efforts on his dominant form of intelligence (i.e. sport), he eventually became very successful at doing something he enjoyed.

Do What You Are Good At

Take some time to identify your dominant forms of intelligence, and if necessary, take the multiple intelligence test. By understanding what your dominant forms of intelligence are, you will see what you are naturally good at and therefore what you are most likely to be successful at in life.

You will also find that these areas will be the things that you most enjoy, and because you do enjoy doing them, you will also have the drive, motivation and determination to keep pressing forward in the face of adversity.

So identify your dominant forms of intelligence and act upon them, as it could very well be the best thing that you ever do for your career prospects and for your life!