Howard Earl Gardner

Traditionally, people have defined someone who is intelligent as an individual who can solve problems, use logic to answer questions, and think critically. But psychologist Howard Gardner has a much broader definition of intelligence. Compare the traditional idea about intelligence with Gardner's. How have his ideas changed the way we assess the strengths and weaknesses of people?

In “A Rounded Version: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, Howard Gardner illustrates how there are a variety of intelligences. Gardner starts off with an example how IQ tests may predict achievement in school but may not predict achievement in life. After finding out certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain functions, such as “Broca’s Area” which is responsible for sentence production, Gardner proposes the existence of multiple intelligences. Multiple studies later led him to propose seven distinct intelligences; Musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Each intelligence has certain classifications. According to Gardner’s classifications, I realized my intelligences are bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, and intrapersonal.

Gardner is most known for his work on the theory of Multiple Intelligence that further more we go through the details.

Howard Gardner developed the Multiple intelligence theory. Gardner believed that the human mind did not have one general intelligence but many that had independent functions. He believed that the previous measure of intelligence did not accurately measure the capability of the human mind. "While formulating this theory, Gardner placed less emphasis on explaining the results of mental tests than on accounting for the range of human abilities that exist across a vast majority of cultures. (www.associatedcontent.com)

Howard Gardner was born July 11, 1943 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His parents were German-Jewish immigrants named Ralph and Hilde Gardner. They fled from Germany in 1938 bringing their three year old son Eric. Sadly, he was killed right before Howard’s birth. This tragic accident had a huge impact on his life. Howard knew he was nothing like his family and friends. Being in the Gardner family education was an important aspect. His parents thought he would attend a private school because of his ability, but Howard decided to attend a prep school closer to his hometown area. Growing up, he was the type of student that loved to learn and greatly outshined in school. Howard went to Harvard University to study history

Howard Gardner has came up with seven clear intelligences Visual-Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, and Logical-Mathematical that outline individual's strengths and are designed based on different tasks, problem solving, and progress in various types of domains. According to Gardner's theory "we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves”(Lane , C. (n.d.). Multiple Intelligences). Visual-Spatial in Gardner's theory is when a person is taught how to remember things through drawings and verbal and physical imagery. Bodily-kinesthetic is used when a person uses communication through there body language, like role playing, hands on learning,

Howard Gardner introduced the theory of multiple intelligences stating that each person possesses a blend of at least eight different kinds of intelligence: verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and environmental/naturalistic (Bruno, 2009).

     A renowned professor of education and psychology at Harvard University, Howard Gardner has radically changed the way we look at intelligence. In 1983 Gardner published the first of two books that theorize that there are multiple intelligences. Gardner believes “that human cognitive competence is better described in terms of a set of abilities, talents, or mental skills, which we call “intelligence” (378). Gardner’s theory dismisses the idea that intelligence is a single attribute of the mind and suggests that there are different types of intelligences that account for different human

Gardner wants to prove that everyone learns differently and our intellectual strengths in different fields vary too. He

Overall, Gardner came up with nine types of intelligences. However, this essay will only cover three of them: verbal/linguistic, body-kinesthetic, and logical/mathematical. This essay will also cover several examples of each type of intelligence. Gardner also had some critics criticizing his research which will also be included throughout the essay.

Howard Gardner of Harvard has identified seven distinct intelligences. This hypothesis have emerged from recent cognitive research and "documents the extent to which students possess different kinds of ideas and therefore get a line, remember, perform, and understand in different ways," according to Gardner (1991). According to this theory, "we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an apprehension of ourselves.

Intelligence is defined as the mental ability of a person to learn and understand effectively and efficiently what is happening around. If any person is considered good enough in communication, understanding and learning, logical reasoning, facts and figures, general knowledge, ability to interpret information and other alike mental activities which account for personal growth, we say that he/she is wise and intelligent. Unfortunately, intelligence is mostly used in terms of learning education only, but general knowledge and common sense are also categorized in intelligence as they constitute a great part of someone's personality. All what is described is usually termed as general intelligence, which had been the subject of interest until researchers from different fields like psychology, artificial intelligence and neurology introduced the concept of "Multiple intelligences". Some theories regarding this phenomena state that "human mind consists of independent and autonomous intelligences, all or some of which can be used at the same time, in contrast to the correlation of all intelligences". The most famous and authentic theory in this regard was presented by famous developmental psychologist Howard Earl Gardner in his book "Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences" (1983).

Just like a snowflake, each human is unique and possess different qualities and characteristics. No one is exactly alike, not even identical twins. This is also true when speaking about intelligence. Intelligence can be defined as the ability to resolve problems. This can be done in many ways. Howard Gardner suggests that intelligence can be classified into nine different categories: linguistic, spatial, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential. Each person differs in strengths and weaknesses and may possess different intelligences. An individual may be highly skilled in math and problem solving, but may possess no musical skills. It would benefit a student in college to evaluate Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences and determine their strengths when deciding what profession would suit them the best. Examining each type of intelligence mentioned in Gardner’s multiple intelligences will yield more knowledge to a student who is in search for a suitable career.

Howard Gardner recognizes that intelligence is more than the single logical-mathematical processing of stored facts that intelligence tests assess. He views intelligence as problem-solving, problem-creating, and problem-finding across a range of situations. There are a total of eight Multiple Intelligences: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Musical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and lastly, Naturalist Intelligence. These Intelligences allow educators to carefully integrate several content areas within a specific curricula.

A. Howard Gardner is the author Frames of Mind who is best known for his Theory of Multiple Intelligences which consist of 8 intelligences. From all the 8 intelligences I believe Interpersonal Intelligence is my strongest because I