Intelligence Vs And Isaac Asimov's Theory Of Multiple Intelligences

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.

Isaac Asimov in “What is Intelligence Anyway?” addresses the question of how society determines intelligence. While in the army, Asimov scored impressively high on an aptitude test and, for a few hours, a huge fuss was made out of him. When Asimov then had to return to KP duty as a buck private he realized that while impressive, his test score did not hold much value. Throughout life, he found that registering high test scores was almost second nature to him. Getting high scores gave him confidence in the fact that he was highly intelligent and he expected everyone else to think that as well. Over time, Asimov came to conclude that scores are merely a reflection of one’s ability to answer questions designed by the test maker. He used an example

Additionally, Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” There are different forms of intelligence that go beyond what our school system measures. Students are not a unit to be measured, and students cannot be assigned a numerical value to identify their intelligence. Students are diverse—they learn at different speeds, and they learn in different ways. Focusing solely on test scores is hurting our students and deviating away from building our society on success and excellence. Critics are slowly realizing the problems associated with standardized tests—they create anxiety, they are extremely biased, and they do not measure the ability to think deeply.

Any child that is in any type of schooling knows what standardized testing is. It is required in every state of America, and not a single child likes it. In recent years a controversial issue has been weather or not standardized testing should be used to judge a person’s intelligence. On one hand, many people believe that standardized testing should not be used because they say it is not a good way to judge a person’s real-world intelligence. On the other hand, however, others argue that standardized testing is an excellent way to predict a person’s intelligence.

“The modern testing movement came out of the effort at the turn of the last century...to ascertain society's 'mental defectives' {sic} and sort them from those of superior intelligence who would occupy society's elite strata” (Sacks).

Flynn’s sub-claim that there are seven different types of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, self-oriented personal, and other-directed personal, supports Warwick’s idea that intelligence is a multi-dimensional entity because it provides an explanation of the multi-dimensions that Warwick is talking about when referring to intelligence and increase the strength of his argument. By addressing the seven types of intelligence, Flynn is able to further support his main claim by showing that there is more to intelligence than having an avid knowledge in math and being able to read. By using this as evidence, Warwick would be able to show how measuring intelligence through a “one-dimensional single value” (202) is inaccurate, thus strengthening his argument by showing a credible source and example and further extending on Flynn’s idea of the role that sociological imagination plays when defining

An anonymous author once stated, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” The same idea holds true when it comes to standardized testing. A student with testing anxiety, dyslexia, poor comprehension, or slow paced thinking skills should not be tested on his or her ability to take a limited subject, timed test. Upon receiving test results, only two outcomes are possible; instead of believing in improvement, students will either become discouraged or set in cruise control (Jouriles, 2014). Along with that, a majority of students will not look to expand their knowledge on the subjects after the tests conclude, being as the tests do not coincide with any of Gardner’s multiple intelligences. Howard Gardner, a Harvard professor believed that humans were comprised of eight distinct intelligences, which allowed them to be stronger and spark interest in some areas over others (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). Gardner believed in Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalist Intelligences, but out of the reading, writing, science, and mathematics that the MCA’s test students on, only one subject area coincides with Gardner’s discovery (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). How are students expected to contribute their hard work and effort, when they are being tested on their weaknesses rather than their strengths? Gardner was able to realize the differences between individuals; he saw how much more there was to a human. Unfortunately, test makers have not come to that realization, for they fail to include subjects such as music, art, language, social studies, history, mechanics, and environmental studies. Until standardized test creators make an attempt to obtain a well rounded evaluation of the individual

Although standardized testing plays a prominent role in education systems, these tests continue to spark controversy. Even “critics have long warned that a flood of standardized testing is distorting American education” (Rizga & Hernandez, 2015, p. 40). Many people feel as if standardized tests only measure a small portion of what truly make’s a student’s education meaningful (Concordia Online Education, 2016). One of the biggest disadvantages of standardized testing is that the scores of standardized tests are said to measure a student’s intelligence level. If students do not earn an expected score, “students are pushed into remedial classes that zero in on what’s measured on the tests, furthering limiting their opportunities to learn the

In researching the types of tests that are administered to determine intelligence, it became very clear that there were many differing opinions surrounding the efficacy of intelligence testing. There exists compelling information that suggest there is a lack of ability for any test to clearly identify and measure intelligence. It is very clearly noted that there is a question of the ability for academics based testing to measure a persons intelligence. One of the most noted tests in the United States that is used to measure the potential of students to perform in an educational setting is the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). Through the years this test has undergone many changes in attempts to overcome challenges in correctly

Intelligence is not easily measured; there are many factors that influence the way we determine whether or not someone is considered “intelligent”, and many more to rank who is more intelligent than others. James R. Flynn, in his piece “The Sociological Imagination, and Kevin Warwick, in his work “Into the Unknown, both share a common argument: intelligence is subjective; therefore, social and environmental context should be considered. Both authors expand on the idea of nature versus nurture. Flynn’s main claim is that the way that intelligence is measured is flawed which is supported by his use of sub claims and evidence, such as intelligence is dependent on social scenarios and that Jensen measures intelligence only through Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Reaction Times (RTs), in order to illustrate what happens when social awareness recedes into the background, he offers 14 specific examples that also serve as reasons (181). Warwick extends on Flynn’s argument; his main claim is that within a particular group what is regarded as intelligence is based on a general consensus, which naturally depends on the culture and values of that society (199). Although they extend on each others’ arguments, they have a particular opposing view: Flynn believes that IQ tests could be an accurate measurement of intelligence if social context was in taken into account; yet Warwick believes this impossible

Intelligence can also be divided into many sub-categories, making it extremely complex and unique for every individual; thus, making it equally as difficult to measure. A Canadian study published in the online journal, Neuron, identified three basic indications of human intelligence: short term memory, reasoning skills, and verbal ability (Dovey par. 3). In light of the latter sentence, the goal of standardized testing is not to determine how well a person can solve general problems or express opinions, but to test how much information an individual is able to memorize throughout their educational life. Tests, specifically the ACT and SAT, ignore a vast amount of electives that could highlight a student’s strengths such as business, art, theology, engineering, music, social studies, and history (Hudlow par. 3). Einstein once said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted” (Batt par. 11). For most, human intelligence counts for something and cannot be defined by a single

It is notable to mention that the individual’s attainment measured by general intelligence tests are indeed broader and the products of less formal and usually less recent learning experiences compared to the ones measured by standardized achievement tests (Aiken, 2003c). Cohen et al. (2013b) regarded that the primary purpose for this kind of measure is that it focuses on the test taker’s level of comprehension in the different subject matters. These types of tests are commonly structured to include several subject areas divided into subtests and are most typically identified as test batteries. Interestingly, achievement tests often serve as better predictors of school ratings than tests of intelligence or special abilities. This does not connote, however, that test of achievement in a specific subject can entirely replace tests of intelligence and special abilities. The accomplishments or achievements determined by general intelligence tests are usually extensive and formed by less formal and probably less recent learning experiences than those measured by standardized tests of achievement. Moreover, for the reason that achievement tests usually evaluate knowledge of information that has been methodically taught, scores on these tests are more influenced by coaching than scores on intelligence tests.

The theory of multiple intelligences was developed by Dr. Howard Gardner in 1983. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences is a critique of the standard psychological view of intellect: there is a single intelligence, adequately measured by IQ or other short answer tests. Instead, on the basis of evidence from disparate sources, the theory claims that human beings have a number of relatively discrete intellectual capacities. IQ tests assess linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence, and sometimes spatial intelligence; they are a reasonably good predictor of who will do well in school. This is because humans have several other significant intellectual capacities (Harvard University).

Intelligence is considered to be one of the most desirable personality qualities in today's society. Expectant parents are told to read and play music to the fetus, in order to stimulate its brain. Being bright is often thought of one the keys to success in life, and highly intelligent people such as Albert Einstein are celebrated. However, despite all the tests and criteria that measure intelligence, the question still remains: what is intelligence? How can it be measured? Is there only one kind of intelligence, or do humans possess several? These seemingly simple questions have proved to be some of the most perplexing and contentious topics in both public and scientific circles.

The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific (primarily sensory) modalities[disambiguation needed], rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability.