The science of intelligence
Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences
Short answer
Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, proposed in 1983, says people have several separate intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and, added later, naturalist. It is popular with teachers, but a 2006 review concluded it lacks adequate empirical support and should not be the basis for educational practice.
Want your own number? The test is 25 visual puzzles, about 12 minutes, no sign-up.
The intelligences, as Gardner describes them
Howard Gardner proposed his theory in 1983. Alongside the familiar spatial, linguistic and logical-mathematical abilities, he included musical and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and various forms of personal intelligence (Neisser et al., 1996). Gardner has said he defined seven intelligences in the early 1980s because they all fit his criteria, and that when he revisited the task a decade later he found at least one more (Checkley, 1997).
- Linguistic: the capacity to use language.
- Logical-mathematical: reasoning with numbers and logic.
- Spatial: the ability to represent the spatial world internally in your mind.
- Musical: the capacity to think in music.
- Bodily-kinesthetic: the capacity to use your whole body.
- Interpersonal: understanding other people.
- Intrapersonal: having an understanding of yourself.
- Naturalist: the ability to recognize and classify plants, minerals and animals (Checkley, 1997).
These descriptions follow Gardner's own wording in a 1997 interview (Checkley, 1997). He has also discussed a possible existential intelligence, but said in 1997 that he did not think there was good brain evidence for it yet (Checkley, 1997).
Why educators like it
The appeal is easy to see. The theory tells teachers and parents that a child who struggles with reading may still be strong in music, movement or understanding people, and that school should value more than test scores. Those are humane goals, and nothing in the research says children lack varied strengths. The question researchers ask is narrower: are these strengths separate intelligences, each measurable and largely independent of the others?
Try one · Pattern Recognition
Which tile comes next?
Tap the option you think is right, or show the answer.
Show the answer
The missing tile shows a very large solid arrow pointing down and to the right (option 2).
How to solve it
- Compare neighboring tiles and name what changes each time.
- From tile to tile, the arrow turns an eighth of a turn counterclockwise.
- From tile to tile, the arrow gets bigger.
- Everything else stays the same from tile to tile.
- The last tile shows a large solid arrow pointing down. Apply each change once more.
- So the missing tile shows a very large solid arrow pointing down and to the right.
That was 1 puzzle. The full test has 25.
What the evidence says
On that narrower question, the evidence is thin:
- The 1996 APA task force wrote that the stability and validity of performance tests in Gardner's new domains had yet to be conclusively demonstrated. It also questioned whether some, such as bodily-kinesthetic ability, are intelligences or special talents (Neisser et al., 1996).
- A 2006 critical review concluded that multiple intelligences theory lacks adequate empirical support and should not be the basis for educational practice (Waterhouse, 2006).
- A 2012 paper on teacher misconceptions listed “there are multiple intelligences” among examples of educational neuromyths, following the OECD (Dekker et al., 2012).
The main problem is that mental abilities are not independent. Different cognitive and learning abilities correlate about 0.30 on average at the observed level, and about 0.60 or higher genetically (Plomin & Deary, 2015). That overlap is what the general factor, g, describes, and it is hard to square with a set of separate intelligences.
What research measures instead
Psychologists who study the structure of abilities use hierarchical models such as Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory, with general ability at the top and broad abilities beneath it. Some of Gardner's list maps onto those broad abilities: his spatial intelligence resembles visual processing, and linguistic intelligence overlaps with comprehension-knowledge. See types of intelligence for the side-by-side picture, and spatial intelligence for one ability in depth.
Not the same as learning styles
Multiple intelligences is often mixed up with learning styles, the idea that teaching works best when it matches a learner's preferred format. That is a separate claim, and a 2008 review found virtually no evidence for it (Pashler et al., 2008). The learning styles myth page covers it. For other broad theories of intelligence, see theories of intelligence.
Sources
- Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T. J., Jr., Boykin, A. W., Brody, N., Ceci, S. J., Halpern, D. F., Loehlin, J. C., Perloff, R., Sternberg, R. J., & Urbina, S. (1996). Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. American Psychologist, 51(2), 77-101. doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.51.2.77
- Checkley, K. (1997). The first seven... and the eighth: A conversation with Howard Gardner. Educational Leadership, 55(1). ASCD. ascd.org/el/articles/the-first-seven.-.-.-and-the-eighth-a-conversation-with-howard-gardner
- Waterhouse, L. (2006). Multiple intelligences, the Mozart effect, and emotional intelligence: A critical review. Educational Psychologist, 41(4), 207-225. doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4104_1
- Dekker, S., Lee, N. C., Howard-Jones, P., & Jolles, J. (2012). Neuromyths in education: Prevalence and predictors of misconceptions among teachers. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 429. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00429
- Plomin, R., & Deary, I. J. (2015). Molecular Psychiatry, 20, 98-108. doi.org/10.1038/mp.2014.105
- Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105-119. doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x