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Frames Of Mind: The Theory Of Multiple Intelligences by Howard E. Gardner
Hailed by educators throughout the world, Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences has been applied in hundreds of classrooms and school districts since Frames of Mind was first published in 1983. Gardner challenges the widely help notion that intelligence is a single general capacity possessed by every individual to a greater or lesser extent. Amassing a wealth of evidence, Gardner posits the existence of a number of intelligences that ultimately yield a unique cognitive profile for each person. This tenth anniversary edition, published in conjunction with a reader on multiple intelligences, features a new introduction that explores the theory's development over the last decade.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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About the author
Howard Gardner
140 books660 followersHoward Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds positions as Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero. Among numerous honors, Gardner received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1981. He has received honorary degrees from 26 colleges and universities, including institutions in Bulgaria, Chile, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, and South Korea. In 2005 and again in 2008, he was selected by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as one of the 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world. The author of 25 books translated into 28 languages, and several hundred articles, Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be adequately assessed by standard psychometric instruments.
During the past two decades, Gardner and colleagues at Project Zero have been involved in the design of performance-based assessments; education for understanding; the use of multiple intelligences to achieve more personalized curriculum, instruction, and pedagogy; and the quality of interdisciplinary efforts in education. Since the middle 1990s, in collaboration with psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and William Damon, Gardner has directed the GoodWork Project-- a study of work that is excellent, engaging, and ethical. More recently, with long time Project Zero colleagues Lynn Barendsen and Wendy Fischman, he has conducted reflection sessions designed to enhance the understanding and incidence of good work among young people. With Carrie James and other colleagues at Project Zero, he is also investigating the nature of trust in contemporary society and ethical dimensions entailed in the use of the new digital media. Among new research undertakings are a study of effective collaboration among non-profit institutions in education and a study of conceptions of quality, nationally and internationally, in the contemporary era. In 2008 he delivered a set of three lectures at New York's Museum of Modern Art on the topic "The True, The Beautiful, and The Good: econsiderations in a post-modern, digital era."
from http://www.howardgardner.com/bio/bio....
During the past two decades, Gardner and colleagues at Project Zero have been involved in the design of performance-based assessments; education for understanding; the use of multiple intelligences to achieve more personalized curriculum, instruction, and pedagogy; and the quality of interdisciplinary efforts in education. Since the middle 1990s, in collaboration with psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and William Damon, Gardner has directed the GoodWork Project-- a study of work that is excellent, engaging, and ethical. More recently, with long time Project Zero colleagues Lynn Barendsen and Wendy Fischman, he has conducted reflection sessions designed to enhance the understanding and incidence of good work among young people. With Carrie James and other colleagues at Project Zero, he is also investigating the nature of trust in contemporary society and ethical dimensions entailed in the use of the new digital media. Among new research undertakings are a study of effective collaboration among non-profit institutions in education and a study of conceptions of quality, nationally and internationally, in the contemporary era. In 2008 he delivered a set of three lectures at New York's Museum of Modern Art on the topic "The True, The Beautiful, and The Good: econsiderations in a post-modern, digital era."
from http://www.howardgardner.com/bio/bio....
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 171 reviews
November 6, 2017
This is one of those books on which many people opine who have not actually read it. Accordingly, we tend to see people scorning the theory of multiple intelligences, arguing that really "these are just skills rather than separate intelligences". As you may imagine, this book, the harbinger of the theory in 1983, goes rather further in delineating what we can call an intelligence by looking at our history of understanding intelligence and trying to come to a picture of what could really constitute a discrete intelligence.
As he writes:
"Gall proposed other pregnant ideas, among them this fascinating claim: there do not exist general mental powers, such as perception, memory, and attention; but, rather, there exist different forms of perception, memory, and the like for each of the several intellectual faculties, such as language, music, or vision."
Essentially, Gardner's view is that
"creativity should be thought of as emerging from the interactions of three nodes: the individual with his or her own profile of competences and values; the domains available for study and mastery within a culture; and the judgments rendered by the field that is deemed competent within a culture"
The same way we consider that people can be "at risk" of a particular disease, Gardner argues, "it may be useful to consider certain individuals as “at promise” for the flowering of a certain talent. Again, this diagnosis does not ensure that they will develop the talent"
The multiple intelligences, according to Gardner are:
1) Linguistic
2) Logical/Mathematical
3) Musical
4) Spatial
5) Kinaesthetic
6) Intrapersonal
7) Interpersonal
Gardner posits this understanding of the intelligences as a way to know how to educate and strengthen humans and their abilities, but he also makes a nod to a major elephant in the room: the desire to learn, which can be seen as a clear common factor in high achievers. Where does that come from? Is it purely chemical/mechanical? Or is it cultural or specifically needs-based? Those of us working with MI more as a student profiling tool and personalisation aid all come across the issue of the motivation factor and have to decide on its provenance. Is it the coursework failing the student? Is it the individual’s lack of desire? Is there really not enough time in the day?
While there is no simple answer to this search for what we might term the “soul of learning” - at least not in this book - there is a strong case for scraping away certain examples of accepted wisdom, particularly in terms of memory and numerical skills, and looking more holistically at the human in front of us.
Gardner's view is that "each form of intelligence has a natural life course: while logical-mathematical thought proves fragile later in life, across all individuals, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is also “at risk,” at least certain aspects of visual and spatial knowledge prove robust, especially in individuals who have practiced them regularly throughout their lives. There is a sense of the whole, a “gestalt” sensitivity, which is central in spatial intelligence, and which seems to be a reward for aging—a continuing or perhaps even an enhanced capacity to appreciate the whole, to discern patterns even when certain details or fine points may be lost. Perhaps wisdom draws on this sensitivity to patterns, forms, and whole."
Indeed, he sums up his argument by stating "(s)omewhere between the Chomskian stress on individuals, with their separate unfolding mental faculties, the Piagetian view of the developing organism passing through a uniform sequence of stages, and the anthropological attention to the formative effects of the cultural environment, it ought to be possible to forge a productive middle ground: a position that takes seriously the nature of innate intellectual proclivities, the heterogeneous processes of development in the child, and the ways in which these are shaped and transformed by the particular practices and values of culture." In other words, a more hands-on approach to exploring these proclivities and capacities, which digs among the subtleties to find what it is that makes us tick better. There are capacities which unite us and are totally comparable (take that, Chomsky) and there are personal applications due to culture or opportunity which far outstrip the same raw material seen in others (stop your smirking, Piaget).
There remains much more to be done, but in the same way that we break down the capacities of athletes and find common elements to enhance, we naturally throw society's lot behind clearly gifted students and artists, without necessarily being clear on what the result is actually telling us. How, for example, can we teach artists to be more like Picasso or musicians to be more like Miles Davis? What we can do is to try and ensure that less obviously gifted individuals at least become aware of the way their gifts might be skewed, and allow them to pursue their strengths or overcome their weaknesses. Sure, there could be a brilliant mathematician who is "lost" to music (or viceversa), but the key is not to determine for others what they should be doing but rather to aid them to understand their own capacities in a vital and useful way. We imagine that motivation could follow easily from there. Gardner with this book found the right approach and grounded it suitably in the science. Another thing entirely is whether we are able to combine these insights with a system that in educational and social terms is able to give the right opportunities at the right time so that all students may reach the goals most pertinent to themselves. Obviously for some that is not necessarily an "optimal" outcome…
As he writes:
"Gall proposed other pregnant ideas, among them this fascinating claim: there do not exist general mental powers, such as perception, memory, and attention; but, rather, there exist different forms of perception, memory, and the like for each of the several intellectual faculties, such as language, music, or vision."
Essentially, Gardner's view is that
"creativity should be thought of as emerging from the interactions of three nodes: the individual with his or her own profile of competences and values; the domains available for study and mastery within a culture; and the judgments rendered by the field that is deemed competent within a culture"
The same way we consider that people can be "at risk" of a particular disease, Gardner argues, "it may be useful to consider certain individuals as “at promise” for the flowering of a certain talent. Again, this diagnosis does not ensure that they will develop the talent"
The multiple intelligences, according to Gardner are:
1) Linguistic
2) Logical/Mathematical
3) Musical
4) Spatial
5) Kinaesthetic
6) Intrapersonal
7) Interpersonal
Gardner posits this understanding of the intelligences as a way to know how to educate and strengthen humans and their abilities, but he also makes a nod to a major elephant in the room: the desire to learn, which can be seen as a clear common factor in high achievers. Where does that come from? Is it purely chemical/mechanical? Or is it cultural or specifically needs-based? Those of us working with MI more as a student profiling tool and personalisation aid all come across the issue of the motivation factor and have to decide on its provenance. Is it the coursework failing the student? Is it the individual’s lack of desire? Is there really not enough time in the day?
While there is no simple answer to this search for what we might term the “soul of learning” - at least not in this book - there is a strong case for scraping away certain examples of accepted wisdom, particularly in terms of memory and numerical skills, and looking more holistically at the human in front of us.
Gardner's view is that "each form of intelligence has a natural life course: while logical-mathematical thought proves fragile later in life, across all individuals, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is also “at risk,” at least certain aspects of visual and spatial knowledge prove robust, especially in individuals who have practiced them regularly throughout their lives. There is a sense of the whole, a “gestalt” sensitivity, which is central in spatial intelligence, and which seems to be a reward for aging—a continuing or perhaps even an enhanced capacity to appreciate the whole, to discern patterns even when certain details or fine points may be lost. Perhaps wisdom draws on this sensitivity to patterns, forms, and whole."
Indeed, he sums up his argument by stating "(s)omewhere between the Chomskian stress on individuals, with their separate unfolding mental faculties, the Piagetian view of the developing organism passing through a uniform sequence of stages, and the anthropological attention to the formative effects of the cultural environment, it ought to be possible to forge a productive middle ground: a position that takes seriously the nature of innate intellectual proclivities, the heterogeneous processes of development in the child, and the ways in which these are shaped and transformed by the particular practices and values of culture." In other words, a more hands-on approach to exploring these proclivities and capacities, which digs among the subtleties to find what it is that makes us tick better. There are capacities which unite us and are totally comparable (take that, Chomsky) and there are personal applications due to culture or opportunity which far outstrip the same raw material seen in others (stop your smirking, Piaget).
There remains much more to be done, but in the same way that we break down the capacities of athletes and find common elements to enhance, we naturally throw society's lot behind clearly gifted students and artists, without necessarily being clear on what the result is actually telling us. How, for example, can we teach artists to be more like Picasso or musicians to be more like Miles Davis? What we can do is to try and ensure that less obviously gifted individuals at least become aware of the way their gifts might be skewed, and allow them to pursue their strengths or overcome their weaknesses. Sure, there could be a brilliant mathematician who is "lost" to music (or viceversa), but the key is not to determine for others what they should be doing but rather to aid them to understand their own capacities in a vital and useful way. We imagine that motivation could follow easily from there. Gardner with this book found the right approach and grounded it suitably in the science. Another thing entirely is whether we are able to combine these insights with a system that in educational and social terms is able to give the right opportunities at the right time so that all students may reach the goals most pertinent to themselves. Obviously for some that is not necessarily an "optimal" outcome…
July 25, 2013
While the concept of this theory was interesting, the writing was unnecessarily verbose. I found it difficult to pick out the main ideas of the theory beyond the first three and many of the notes in the final chapters seemed like afterthoughts to add to the page count. Gardner writes like a theorist, which is to say that he makes things complex for no reason other than the fact that he can. Since I am more of a creative writer, getting through this text was a chore that I'm proud to say I completed, but am unsure I ever should have attempted.
December 9, 2009
I wrote a paper on Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences when I was working toward my master's in education.
I didn't come down entirely on the anti-Gardner side of the fence but I was pretty critical about the lack of scientific evidence for separate "intelligences" and other imprecisions in his work (a chronic failing of education-related studies).
If nothing else, Gardner forces the attentive reader (pro or con) to re-evaluate how we teach people and if he's caused us to do it better, then he's done us a service.
I didn't come down entirely on the anti-Gardner side of the fence but I was pretty critical about the lack of scientific evidence for separate "intelligences" and other imprecisions in his work (a chronic failing of education-related studies).
If nothing else, Gardner forces the attentive reader (pro or con) to re-evaluate how we teach people and if he's caused us to do it better, then he's done us a service.
May 5, 2020
Author seems exceptionally qualified to research this subject, but he's a shit writer. Seems like he just uses the most obscure synonyms he can find as some type of vocabulary challenge. What the fuck does quadrivium mean, asshole, and why do you use it constantly? Overly verbose writing both alienates his audience and contradicts his entire position of multiple intelligences, as prevailing general intelligence theory he acknowledges himself centers around linguistic and abstract proficiency. So he perpetuates that while also attempting to dismiss it?
I was hoping to change my mind that being considered a genius doesn't mean a thing, but this guy is doing a disservice to the theory that turned into his life's work. I read the first 2 chapters, which included forewards, introduction, preface, background, and notes... there was still 12 hours left to go in the book. Fuck this dude, submit this doctorate thesis to JSTOR or get a guest writer. Maybe the 2nd or 3rd book I've quit reading in my life.
I think I meant to read The Genius in All of Us: New Insights into Genetics, Talent, and IQ - by David Shenk, but didn't remember the exact title and this book was listed on the subject. Will be switching to that one next.
I was hoping to change my mind that being considered a genius doesn't mean a thing, but this guy is doing a disservice to the theory that turned into his life's work. I read the first 2 chapters, which included forewards, introduction, preface, background, and notes... there was still 12 hours left to go in the book. Fuck this dude, submit this doctorate thesis to JSTOR or get a guest writer. Maybe the 2nd or 3rd book I've quit reading in my life.
I think I meant to read The Genius in All of Us: New Insights into Genetics, Talent, and IQ - by David Shenk, but didn't remember the exact title and this book was listed on the subject. Will be switching to that one next.
May 13, 2021
Letto per la tesi, mi ha aperto gli occhi riguardo alla pluralità dell'intelligenza umana. I capitoli che presentano ogni singola intelligenza e il capitolo sull'insegnamento e su come "coltivare" le potenzialità infantili in ambito educativo sono molto interessanti e valgono la lettura. Nonostante il linguaggio sia tecnico e complesso, quindi adatto solo a chi già mastica qualcosa di psicologia, statistica, neuroscienze e affini, una lettura da non perdere e che ha posto le basi per un diverso filone di studi riguardo all'intelligenza: le teorie multiple.
Want to read
January 7, 2017
February 21, 2013
Gardner is a better researcher than he is writer. The content is interesting, but it takes effort to read. It is worth reading since this is the original theory that everyone refers to.
February 29, 2008
One of my professors used this as a text when I was working on a M.A. in education, and it really opened some new doors for me. I'd always felt that conventional intelligence tests like IQ tests and the SAT were marginally relevant at best, and that a lot of people were very smart in ways those tests didn't recognize. In this book, Howard Gardner has done a good job of categorizing and examining a number of different kinds of intelligence including some not often recognized by our education and testing system - for example, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and kinesthetic.
October 7, 2024
”Why bother attempting to define intelligence when it is relative and impacted by various factors?” - Frames of Mind sets out to explain that there are different types of intelligence and how different parts of the brain affect each of these different types of intelligence.
Unravel common myths about human intellect, and learn how you can enhance and apply your cognitive talents across multiple spheres.
Read on the Headway app, which condenses non-fiction books by their key-points to maximise quicker and more helpful learning. ✨🧠🖤
3 Stars
Unravel common myths about human intellect, and learn how you can enhance and apply your cognitive talents across multiple spheres.
Read on the Headway app, which condenses non-fiction books by their key-points to maximise quicker and more helpful learning. ✨🧠🖤
3 Stars
January 30, 2024
Rating: 7/10
I wanted to love this book but my Goddddddddddddddd did majority of it bore me
If I wasn’t so curious and stubborn I probably wouldn’t have finished it
Premise and research were interesting. Execution was meh
Maybe I’ll give it another shot later in the year!
I wanted to love this book but my Goddddddddddddddd did majority of it bore me
If I wasn’t so curious and stubborn I probably wouldn’t have finished it
Premise and research were interesting. Execution was meh
Maybe I’ll give it another shot later in the year!
July 14, 2008
Recommended by my sister..
Gardner's work is one of the great rebuttals to those who advocate the use of standardized testing scores as an appropriate measure of teaching and learning. It opened my eyes.
Gardner's work is one of the great rebuttals to those who advocate the use of standardized testing scores as an appropriate measure of teaching and learning. It opened my eyes.
November 15, 2021
I read this for my MAT in 2002, alongside Theodore Sizer's book about the Coalition of Essental Schools.
Both inspired me to work on constructivist lesson plans for my classes, this past twenty years.
Should be read by all people who want to learn or to teach. In other words, this book should be read by everyone.
Both inspired me to work on constructivist lesson plans for my classes, this past twenty years.
Should be read by all people who want to learn or to teach. In other words, this book should be read by everyone.
April 25, 2014
I started reading Frames of Mind for my thesis last fall, to use as a straw man against my theoretical framework (Sternberg's WICS Model), but ironically found Gardner's theory more substantial. The scientific reasons he has for supporting the different kinds of intelligences seem much more valid than Sternberg's, and Gardner provides multiple ways in which his theory can be used. He does admit that he has not changed his theory or done significant testing on it, but he is open to others testing it and changing it, and repeatedly acknowledges that he may not have THE answer but that his theory can help people, especially educators, understand how different cultures support the advancement of different kinds of intelligences in individuals. This theory would be of interest to anyone in the education field, though the writing is pretty dry and academic.
April 7, 2025
Very few books actually change the way you see the world—especially when it comes to understanding the mind. Frames of Mind is one of those rare ones. It gives you a whole new perspective on people and intelligence, with solid grounding in psychology and neuroscience. The book feels a bit like an encyclopedia—there’s a lot to take in, and you’ll probably need to come back to it more than once. At times, it reads almost like a research paper, but the ideas are genuinely fresh and thought-provoking. Honestly, it might be a bit boring at times, but it’s definitely worth having on your reading list.
April 24, 2013
This books presents a useful way to view intelligence. It acknowledges that some people are smarter in one area than in another. I don't entirely agree with his categories, but the notion is useful, as it prevents a person who is talented in, say, dance, from being considered stupid because that person is maybe not so good at linear logic chains.
Those training to be schoolteachers will often be required to read this book. That's a good thing. It would be nicer still, though, if people would look at this book, take its ideas, and use them to direct themselves to areas in which success is more likely than it would be in another direction.
This book doesn't explain people like my husband who is good at everything. But it does help a regular person who excels in one area or another to remember to be modest about that, as there are other areas that don't -- or wouldn't -- come so easily.
Those training to be schoolteachers will often be required to read this book. That's a good thing. It would be nicer still, though, if people would look at this book, take its ideas, and use them to direct themselves to areas in which success is more likely than it would be in another direction.
This book doesn't explain people like my husband who is good at everything. But it does help a regular person who excels in one area or another to remember to be modest about that, as there are other areas that don't -- or wouldn't -- come so easily.
February 1, 2012
Such an interesting read. So helpful for anyone involved in the development of a child. It seems a little more relevant to parent compared to teachers. There seems to be a misconception among educators that this is a book about how "Everyone Learns Differently." It is more about how there are different intelligences which can be nurtured separately and many of them are ignored.
December 27, 2023
This book is an intellectually stimulating exploration of the concept of multiple intelligences, revolutionizing our understanding of human capabilities. Gardner's compelling argument challenges the traditional notion of intelligence, proposing that individuals possess diverse cognitive strengths beyond the confines of a singular intelligence quotient (IQ).
Through comprehensive research and insightful analysis, Gardner illuminates how these distinct intelligences - linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic - shape our perceptions, learning styles, and societal contributions. This thought-provoking book is a must-read for educators, psychologists, and anyone intrigued by the intricate facets of human intelligence and potential.
Through comprehensive research and insightful analysis, Gardner illuminates how these distinct intelligences - linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic - shape our perceptions, learning styles, and societal contributions. This thought-provoking book is a must-read for educators, psychologists, and anyone intrigued by the intricate facets of human intelligence and potential.
December 9, 2020
It may not make a lot of sense to review Howard Gardner's aging classic, Frames of Mind, almost forty years after it was published, but that is when I got around to reading it. I recall hearing about it back in the 1980s, of course, and in a sense what I heard was all I needed to know. The notion that verbal and logical-mathematical capability covered the meaning of intelligence made no sense to me in the 1980s and makes no sense to me now.
Gardner's addition of musical, spatial, kinesthetic, and personal intelligences is well-supported in this book. In fact, the book is somewhat misleading. At first glance, it would appear to be a popularization of a theory. Not so. There is plenty of serious social science ihere as well as lots of fascinating commentary on outstanding examples of each of the intelligences he advances.
Sadly, though, Gardner reports on, rather than challenges, the undervaluation of intelligence capabilities that can be traced to what is generically referred to as the "right brain." There is little here that would strongly defend music education in schools, for example, or arts education, even if musical and artistic gifts are given their due as important dimensions of human experience and intelligence.
Gardner points out that concepts of intelligence are culture-bound without fully confronting the perversities of cultures themselves. We all know that U.S. priorities in assessing and advancing intelligence are designed to further economic interests. What we don't know is that by undervaluing artistic education and expression we are beggaring ourselves as a society. The same may even be said with respect to vocational education and the social status and recognition we afford to plumbers, masons, and mechanics. In Germany a tradesman is a professional. In the U.S. there is a tendency to regard a tradesman as someone who couldn't do anything else.
Gardner makes clear that culture can and does distort the significance of human intelligences. He takes too little trouble in bringing our own culture to brook.
Gardner's addition of musical, spatial, kinesthetic, and personal intelligences is well-supported in this book. In fact, the book is somewhat misleading. At first glance, it would appear to be a popularization of a theory. Not so. There is plenty of serious social science ihere as well as lots of fascinating commentary on outstanding examples of each of the intelligences he advances.
Sadly, though, Gardner reports on, rather than challenges, the undervaluation of intelligence capabilities that can be traced to what is generically referred to as the "right brain." There is little here that would strongly defend music education in schools, for example, or arts education, even if musical and artistic gifts are given their due as important dimensions of human experience and intelligence.
Gardner points out that concepts of intelligence are culture-bound without fully confronting the perversities of cultures themselves. We all know that U.S. priorities in assessing and advancing intelligence are designed to further economic interests. What we don't know is that by undervaluing artistic education and expression we are beggaring ourselves as a society. The same may even be said with respect to vocational education and the social status and recognition we afford to plumbers, masons, and mechanics. In Germany a tradesman is a professional. In the U.S. there is a tendency to regard a tradesman as someone who couldn't do anything else.
Gardner makes clear that culture can and does distort the significance of human intelligences. He takes too little trouble in bringing our own culture to brook.
February 4, 2018
نظرية الذكاءات المتعددة لهاورد غاردنر المثيرة للاهتمام التي نشرها لأول مرة عام 1983 و التي أثارت جدلاً بين العاملية و المهتمين في مجال أبحاث الذكياء كما يقول الكاتب في مقدمة كتابه
نظرية الذكاءات المتعددة تمحي فكرة أن للذكاء نمط و صورة واحدة فقط و التي غالباً تتمحور حول الذكاء المعرفي
ليفترض أن للذكاء صور و أنماط مختلفة بأختلاف أحوال البشر و قدراتهم
وهذه الذكاءات التي صنفها غاردنر على الشكل التالي :
ذكاء رياضي منطقي
ذكاء حركي -بدني
ذكاء موسيقي
ذكاء لغوي
ذكاء معرفة الذات
ذكاء معرفة الاخرين
ذكاء معرفة الطبيعة
الجميع يمتلكون هذه الذكاءات بنسب متفاوتة قد تظهر عند البعض احدها بنسبة شاذة عن الانواع الاخرى و بشكل ملحوظ ومثير للاهتمام و عند الاهتمام بتنمية هذا النوع تتجلى العظمة و الموهبة , و قد يمتلك البعض هذه الذكاءات بنسب متباينة وقريبة من بعضها وهم الاناس العاديون , معرفة أي نوع من الذكاء الذي تمتلكه يساعدك في تحديد رغباتك أكثر وتحقيقها بسهولة أكثر , بالاضافة إلى رفع الوعي بالذات وقدراتها ومكامن قوتها وضعفها مما ينقلها إلى مستوى أعلى من الاستقرار النفسي و الطمأنينة نتيجة الوعي بالذات.
September 19, 2014
The ideas were interesting but it was really dry, and I am not sure that he made the case that these should could as unique intelligences, though having read it years ago, I may have been more convinced then.
The most interesting idea to me, and I think I got it from an article inspired by the book where it was highlighted at a level not in the book, was that if you can teach things with techniques that bring in multiple intelligences, then you can reach more students, including the non-traditional learners.
I read a lot of interesting things about the book, so even if the book was not as interesting, it had an impact and inspired a lot of other writers, so for the influence alone there is value.
The most interesting idea to me, and I think I got it from an article inspired by the book where it was highlighted at a level not in the book, was that if you can teach things with techniques that bring in multiple intelligences, then you can reach more students, including the non-traditional learners.
I read a lot of interesting things about the book, so even if the book was not as interesting, it had an impact and inspired a lot of other writers, so for the influence alone there is value.
January 27, 2022
In modern western society, there's a reigning belief that intelligence is a general trait that can be measured and represented by a single numerical value. However, there's convincing evidence that suggests there are several different intelligences operating in relative neurobiological isolation. These intelligences are, according to the author's criteria: linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. By further studying and exploring these intelligences, it may be possible to develop new tests that indicate a child's intellectual strengths and weaknesses - which will in turn help educators better foster their potential.
December 21, 2020
This is one of the books that I was dying to start but once I did, I just couldn't finish it. as interesting as what Howard Gardner is discussing in this book is he managed to write it in the most boring way possible. I absolutely love the theory of multiple intelligence and I still wanna read more on it but this book was very hard to read.
July 16, 2017
Yenilenmiş ve genişletilmiş baskı... Ayrıca yazarın ilk baskıdan 30 yıl sonra yazdığı önsözü de var
January 27, 2022
In modern Western society, there’s a reigning belief that intelligence is a general trait that can be measured and represented by a single numerical value. However, there’s convincing evidence that suggests there are several different intelligences operating in relative neurobiological isolation. These intelligences are, according to the author’s criteria: linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. By further studying and exploring these intelligences, it may be possible to develop new tests that indicate a child’s intellectual strengths and weaknesses – which will in turn help educators better foster their potential.
---
Linguistic intelligence implies a high awareness of language and its properties.
When working on a poem, the writer Robert Graves was struggling over a particular line. It originally read, “and fix my mind in a close pattern of doubt.” But he was bothered by the word pattern; he felt that there must be some better substitute. “Frame of doubt” sounded too formal. “Net of doubt” was too negative.
Finally, Graves hit upon the word “caul.” The word had many different senses: it simultaneously referred to a type of woman’s cap, a spider web, and a membrane that sometimes covers the head of a child when it’s born. All of those fit within the poem – and even better, “close caul” alliterated nicely. In the end, the line read, “and fix my mind in a close caul of doubt.”
This kind of agonizing over the meanings and sounds of words is representative of highly developed linguistic intelligence.
The key message here is: Linguistic intelligence implies a high awareness of language and its properties.
Poets are good examples of people with high linguistic intelligence. They’re sensitive to all the shades of meaning a word suggests. They also consider not just how that meaning may intersect with the meanings of words in other lines, but also whether the words sound good together.
Of course, poetry is far from the only task to which linguistic intelligence can be applied. For example, it’s crucial in rhetoric – the use of language to convince other people of a course of action, as politicians do. Linguistic intelligence can also be used for explanation, especially when teaching and learning concepts and metaphors.
Neurobiologically, linguistic intelligence is the most thoroughly studied of all the intelligences. Scientists have detailed knowledge of how linguistic skills develop, from a child’s babbling during his opening moments of life to the strings of words he utters at age three and the adultlike syntax he can employ by age four or five. And this development carries across cultures – everywhere in the world, people use some form of language to communicate.
In most individuals, linguistic ability is localized in the left hemisphere of the brain. Correspondingly, damage to particular areas in this hemisphere causes damage to specific linguistic abilities. For instance, impairments in Broca’s area, which is part of the frontal lobe, cause a person to rely heavily on simple sentences with little inflection or modification – almost like an extreme version of Ernest Hemingway’s writing style.
---
Musical intelligence involves sensitivity to the properties of sound.
Three preschool-aged children have just performed at a musical audition. The first child accurately and emotively played a Bach suite for solo violin. The second sang a complete aria from a Mozart opera after hearing it sung just once before. The third played a simple minuet for piano that she composed herself.
Each of these children is a hypothetical example of a musical prodigy, and they’ve all arrived at their talents via different routes. The first child participated in the Suzuki Talent Education Program, which teaches very young Japanese children to play string instruments. The second has severe autism, which in his case manifests as an inability to verbally communicate with others coupled with a talent for flawlessly singing back any piece of music he hears. And the third child was raised in a musical family; that experience enabled her to pick out and create tunes on her own, like a young Mozart. What the children all have in common is musical intelligence.
The key message here is: Musical intelligence involves sensitivity to the properties of sound.
Musical intelligence is tied to a person’s auditory-oral capabilities. Skill in this sphere allows individuals to understand the meaning of rhythmically arranged sets of pitches – and produce those pitches themselves.
Just as poetry can be thought of as the culmination of linguistic intelligence, musical composition can be thought of as the culmination of musical intelligence. While very few people will ever become composers, research has shown that almost everyone can at least appreciate the basic structure of music. They can group a piece with a certain rhythm together with other pieces in a similar rhythm. Or, given a piece in a certain key, they can judge which sort of ending is more or less appropriate.
Like language, music relies heavily on a person’s auditory tract. Yet musical intelligence is distinct from linguistic intelligence because the ways the brain processes and stores pitch are different from the ways it stores other sounds such as language.
Here’s the proof. In a study done by psychologist Diana Deutsch, a series of tones were played for participants, who were asked to remember them. Then, different sounds were played. If those sounds consisted of other tones, subjects had trouble remembering the original tones and made errors 40 percent of the time. But if the interfering material was verbal – words or numbers – participants did much better: their error rate dropped to just 2 percent.
---
Logical-mathematical intelligence centers around abstract reasoning.
A child is sitting on the floor in front of a set of objects. She decides to count them and determines that there are ten. Then she points to the objects in a different order. Ten objects again! She tries over and over. Eventually, she begins to understand that the number ten represents all the elements in the set, no matter which order she counts them in.
This child has naturally arrived at an insight about the concept of number. In doing so, she’s exercised her logical-mathematical intelligence. This type of intelligence begins through interaction with the world of objects. As it develops, it becomes more and more abstract until it enters the realms of logic and science.
The key message here is: Logical-mathematical intelligence centers around abstract reasoning.
At some point, an aspiring mathematician is likely to find herself presented with a long chain of propositions – that is, mathematical statements. The ability to remember the links in the chain may help her understand them. But a good memory isn’t a mathematician’s true strong suit. Instead, it’s her ability to follow long chains of reasoning – to understand the logical links between mathematical statements and grasp their overall meaning. Like painters or poets, mathematicians are concerned with patterns. They’re not concerned with language or pitch, though; it’s ideas they’re interested in.
It’s impossible to overstate how abstract mathematics is. The discipline asks a person not just to find analogies, but to find analogies between different kinds of analogies. It deals with imaginary numbers, irrational numbers, paradoxes, possible and impossible worlds, and so on.
So where is mathematical ability located in the brain? At the moment, there’s only a fragile consensus about that, but it seems to be centered in the brain’s left hemisphere. Typically, logical-mathematical abilities decay after generalized diseases like dementia. And there are also conditions like Gerstmann syndrome, where children experience isolated impairment in learning arithmetic and have difficulty recognizing and identifying their fingers and distinguishing left from right.
In modern Western society, logical-mathematical intelligence is the most privileged intelligence of all. And it’s often said that this intelligence guides the course of human history. There’s only one logic, and only those with logical-mathematical intelligence can exercise it – or so the theory goes. The author disagrees. Though this intelligence has been deeply important in the West and is highly equipped to handle certain problems and tasks, it can’t solve everything.
---
Spatial intelligence is used for visualization and orientation in space.
If you can, visualize a tall animal – say, a horse – in your head. From just that image, can you determine which point is higher – the top of its tail or the base of its head? Now try this one. Visualize folding a piece of paper in half three times. How many rectangles are created by the folds after you’re finished?
It’s probably clear right away whether or not these tasks are difficult for you. Though different, both are related to spatial intelligence. They ask you to visualize images in your head and utilize your understanding of space. Ultimately, this intelligence is all about the capacity to accurately perceive the visual world, transform and modify that perception, and recreate it even when the visual stimulus is no longer in front of you. Oh, and in case you’re still thinking about those rectangles in that piece of paper: the answer is 8.
The key message here is: Spatial intelligence is used for visualization and orientation in space.
Despite the focus on perceiving the visual world, spatial intelligence can actually operate independently of the ability to see. This means that individuals with blindness can still have highly developed spatial intelligence. Of course, people who’ve been blind since birth can’t perceive certain aspects of it, like color. But they can recognize sizes and shapes by using their other senses.
Spatial abilities allow people to find their way around, whether they’re in a room or in an ocean. They also give people sensitivity to the details and qualities in visual or spatial displays, such as paintings or sculptures. But the “space” doesn’t even have to be as literal as that. Spatial capacities can be used in a much more abstract way, such as drawing connections between different domains. Take John Dalton, who combined the imagery of both chemistry and astronomy to imagine atoms as tiny solar systems.
No matter what purpose spatial ability is applied to, this intelligence can be observed across all cultures – though some make more use of it than others. For instance, the ability to discern slight differences in the angle and shape of snow drifts is essential for navigation in the tundra, and that requires a high degree of spatial skill. In fact, one study found that over 60 percent of children who lived in such an environment, whom it identified as Eskimo, scored as high on tests of spatial ability as the top 10 percent of white children.
Unlike logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence is very much concerned with the world of objects. There’s another intelligence that’s similarly concerned with the concrete over the abstract. It’s called bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
---
Skilled use of the body reflects bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
Of all the ways people can use their bodies, the one most widely developed is probably dance. Because there are so many forms, uses, and meanings associated with dance, even defining the term can be difficult. But, in general, a dance is a culturally patterned sequence of purposeful, intentionally rhythmic body movements.
Dance goes back many thousands of years. In Paleolithic times, masked and dancing sorcerers and hunters were depicted in cave paintings. Over the years, dance has been used to reflect and enforce social organization, express both secular and religious ideas, and serve as recreation, to name just a few. On a bodily level, dance is all about combining the qualities of speed, direction, distance, intensity, and so on – qualities that require a highly developed sense of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
The key message here is: Skilled use of the body reflects bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
In Western culture, the activities of the body aren’t typically thought of as having anything to do with intelligence. But that’s a historical artifact that comes from associating intelligence with things like reason and logic. If you look more closely, you’ll notice that lots of cognitive pursuits also include a distinct physical element. Think of a surgeon conducting an operation, for instance. Precise movements are absolutely essential to her task.
Even in noncognitive pursuits, it’s hard to consider bodily skill nonintelligent. When he was in front of the net, famous hockey player Wayne Gretzky would hold the puck for an extra instant; that disrupted the game’s rhythm and threw off the goalie. Some would call that instinct. But Gretzky rightly stated that no one would claim a doctor had learned his profession by instinct – so why should they say the same about his understanding of hockey?
It’s also just factually incorrect to claim that the brain doesn’t play a role in bodily movement, because it does – though it’s more a means to an end. The brain helps refine, redirect, and adapt motor behavior so that it better serves a person’s goals. In other words, the body and the brain are constantly communicating with each other to execute a given motor task.
Additionally, impairments in the brain – especially in the left hemisphere – can reduce a person’s motor abilities. Take, for instance, the various types of apraxia. An individual with this condition can cognitively understand a request and is physically able and willing to perform it – yet is unable to actually do it.
We’ve covered all the externally oriented intelligences. Next, it’s time to move on to the internally oriented, personal intelligences.
---
The personal intelligences deal with knowledge of yourself and others.
In 1909, the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud was giving lectures throughout the US, outlining his theories about the human psyche.
After one of Freud’s lectures, the dean of American psychologists and philosophers, William James, came up to him and said, “the future of psychology belongs to your work.”
That meeting was symbolic in an important way. Freud and James each represented very different philosophies and conceptions of psychology. Freud’s focus was on the development of the individual psyche – a person’s inner life. James, on the other hand, was much more oriented toward people’s relationships with others. Their diverging visions are a good way of understanding the difference between the two forms of personal intelligence: intrapersonal and interpersonal.
The key message here is: The personal intelligences deal with knowledge of yourself and others.
To flesh out the distinction between intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences, it’s worth pointing to some distinct features of each.
Intrapersonal intelligence is all about knowing yourself – being able to get in touch with your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The novelist Marcel Proust, who wrote introspectively about feelings, is a great example.
By contrast, interpersonal intelligence is all about knowing others – specifically, their moods, temperaments, motivations, and intentions. The political and religious leader Mahatma Gandhi, who was renowned for his ability to understand and influence other people, might be the best example of this.
Both inter- and intrapersonal intelligence are located in the same area of the brain: the frontal lobes. This is where sensory information and limbic system information are integrated. In less technical language, it’s where your perceptions – including your perception of other people – combines with information about your emotional states.
Though the neurological basis for the personal intelligences is shared among all people, the ways they manifest in culture vary greatly – perhaps more so than for any of the other intelligences.
Balinese culture, for instance, emphasizes the “masks” that individuals wear. People are identified by the many roles they play, in a kind of constant performance. This frame emphasizes interpersonal intelligence over intrapersonal. This is much different from Moroccan culture, where the interpersonal and intrapersonal selves are both cultivated but in clearly demarcated, separate contexts. The selves that Moroccan people display in public are deliberately much different from their private selves.
---
Linguistic intelligence implies a high awareness of language and its properties.
When working on a poem, the writer Robert Graves was struggling over a particular line. It originally read, “and fix my mind in a close pattern of doubt.” But he was bothered by the word pattern; he felt that there must be some better substitute. “Frame of doubt” sounded too formal. “Net of doubt” was too negative.
Finally, Graves hit upon the word “caul.” The word had many different senses: it simultaneously referred to a type of woman’s cap, a spider web, and a membrane that sometimes covers the head of a child when it’s born. All of those fit within the poem – and even better, “close caul” alliterated nicely. In the end, the line read, “and fix my mind in a close caul of doubt.”
This kind of agonizing over the meanings and sounds of words is representative of highly developed linguistic intelligence.
The key message here is: Linguistic intelligence implies a high awareness of language and its properties.
Poets are good examples of people with high linguistic intelligence. They’re sensitive to all the shades of meaning a word suggests. They also consider not just how that meaning may intersect with the meanings of words in other lines, but also whether the words sound good together.
Of course, poetry is far from the only task to which linguistic intelligence can be applied. For example, it’s crucial in rhetoric – the use of language to convince other people of a course of action, as politicians do. Linguistic intelligence can also be used for explanation, especially when teaching and learning concepts and metaphors.
Neurobiologically, linguistic intelligence is the most thoroughly studied of all the intelligences. Scientists have detailed knowledge of how linguistic skills develop, from a child’s babbling during his opening moments of life to the strings of words he utters at age three and the adultlike syntax he can employ by age four or five. And this development carries across cultures – everywhere in the world, people use some form of language to communicate.
In most individuals, linguistic ability is localized in the left hemisphere of the brain. Correspondingly, damage to particular areas in this hemisphere causes damage to specific linguistic abilities. For instance, impairments in Broca’s area, which is part of the frontal lobe, cause a person to rely heavily on simple sentences with little inflection or modification – almost like an extreme version of Ernest Hemingway’s writing style.
---
Musical intelligence involves sensitivity to the properties of sound.
Three preschool-aged children have just performed at a musical audition. The first child accurately and emotively played a Bach suite for solo violin. The second sang a complete aria from a Mozart opera after hearing it sung just once before. The third played a simple minuet for piano that she composed herself.
Each of these children is a hypothetical example of a musical prodigy, and they’ve all arrived at their talents via different routes. The first child participated in the Suzuki Talent Education Program, which teaches very young Japanese children to play string instruments. The second has severe autism, which in his case manifests as an inability to verbally communicate with others coupled with a talent for flawlessly singing back any piece of music he hears. And the third child was raised in a musical family; that experience enabled her to pick out and create tunes on her own, like a young Mozart. What the children all have in common is musical intelligence.
The key message here is: Musical intelligence involves sensitivity to the properties of sound.
Musical intelligence is tied to a person’s auditory-oral capabilities. Skill in this sphere allows individuals to understand the meaning of rhythmically arranged sets of pitches – and produce those pitches themselves.
Just as poetry can be thought of as the culmination of linguistic intelligence, musical composition can be thought of as the culmination of musical intelligence. While very few people will ever become composers, research has shown that almost everyone can at least appreciate the basic structure of music. They can group a piece with a certain rhythm together with other pieces in a similar rhythm. Or, given a piece in a certain key, they can judge which sort of ending is more or less appropriate.
Like language, music relies heavily on a person’s auditory tract. Yet musical intelligence is distinct from linguistic intelligence because the ways the brain processes and stores pitch are different from the ways it stores other sounds such as language.
Here’s the proof. In a study done by psychologist Diana Deutsch, a series of tones were played for participants, who were asked to remember them. Then, different sounds were played. If those sounds consisted of other tones, subjects had trouble remembering the original tones and made errors 40 percent of the time. But if the interfering material was verbal – words or numbers – participants did much better: their error rate dropped to just 2 percent.
---
Logical-mathematical intelligence centers around abstract reasoning.
A child is sitting on the floor in front of a set of objects. She decides to count them and determines that there are ten. Then she points to the objects in a different order. Ten objects again! She tries over and over. Eventually, she begins to understand that the number ten represents all the elements in the set, no matter which order she counts them in.
This child has naturally arrived at an insight about the concept of number. In doing so, she’s exercised her logical-mathematical intelligence. This type of intelligence begins through interaction with the world of objects. As it develops, it becomes more and more abstract until it enters the realms of logic and science.
The key message here is: Logical-mathematical intelligence centers around abstract reasoning.
At some point, an aspiring mathematician is likely to find herself presented with a long chain of propositions – that is, mathematical statements. The ability to remember the links in the chain may help her understand them. But a good memory isn’t a mathematician’s true strong suit. Instead, it’s her ability to follow long chains of reasoning – to understand the logical links between mathematical statements and grasp their overall meaning. Like painters or poets, mathematicians are concerned with patterns. They’re not concerned with language or pitch, though; it’s ideas they’re interested in.
It’s impossible to overstate how abstract mathematics is. The discipline asks a person not just to find analogies, but to find analogies between different kinds of analogies. It deals with imaginary numbers, irrational numbers, paradoxes, possible and impossible worlds, and so on.
So where is mathematical ability located in the brain? At the moment, there’s only a fragile consensus about that, but it seems to be centered in the brain’s left hemisphere. Typically, logical-mathematical abilities decay after generalized diseases like dementia. And there are also conditions like Gerstmann syndrome, where children experience isolated impairment in learning arithmetic and have difficulty recognizing and identifying their fingers and distinguishing left from right.
In modern Western society, logical-mathematical intelligence is the most privileged intelligence of all. And it’s often said that this intelligence guides the course of human history. There’s only one logic, and only those with logical-mathematical intelligence can exercise it – or so the theory goes. The author disagrees. Though this intelligence has been deeply important in the West and is highly equipped to handle certain problems and tasks, it can’t solve everything.
---
Spatial intelligence is used for visualization and orientation in space.
If you can, visualize a tall animal – say, a horse – in your head. From just that image, can you determine which point is higher – the top of its tail or the base of its head? Now try this one. Visualize folding a piece of paper in half three times. How many rectangles are created by the folds after you’re finished?
It’s probably clear right away whether or not these tasks are difficult for you. Though different, both are related to spatial intelligence. They ask you to visualize images in your head and utilize your understanding of space. Ultimately, this intelligence is all about the capacity to accurately perceive the visual world, transform and modify that perception, and recreate it even when the visual stimulus is no longer in front of you. Oh, and in case you’re still thinking about those rectangles in that piece of paper: the answer is 8.
The key message here is: Spatial intelligence is used for visualization and orientation in space.
Despite the focus on perceiving the visual world, spatial intelligence can actually operate independently of the ability to see. This means that individuals with blindness can still have highly developed spatial intelligence. Of course, people who’ve been blind since birth can’t perceive certain aspects of it, like color. But they can recognize sizes and shapes by using their other senses.
Spatial abilities allow people to find their way around, whether they’re in a room or in an ocean. They also give people sensitivity to the details and qualities in visual or spatial displays, such as paintings or sculptures. But the “space” doesn’t even have to be as literal as that. Spatial capacities can be used in a much more abstract way, such as drawing connections between different domains. Take John Dalton, who combined the imagery of both chemistry and astronomy to imagine atoms as tiny solar systems.
No matter what purpose spatial ability is applied to, this intelligence can be observed across all cultures – though some make more use of it than others. For instance, the ability to discern slight differences in the angle and shape of snow drifts is essential for navigation in the tundra, and that requires a high degree of spatial skill. In fact, one study found that over 60 percent of children who lived in such an environment, whom it identified as Eskimo, scored as high on tests of spatial ability as the top 10 percent of white children.
Unlike logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence is very much concerned with the world of objects. There’s another intelligence that’s similarly concerned with the concrete over the abstract. It’s called bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
---
Skilled use of the body reflects bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
Of all the ways people can use their bodies, the one most widely developed is probably dance. Because there are so many forms, uses, and meanings associated with dance, even defining the term can be difficult. But, in general, a dance is a culturally patterned sequence of purposeful, intentionally rhythmic body movements.
Dance goes back many thousands of years. In Paleolithic times, masked and dancing sorcerers and hunters were depicted in cave paintings. Over the years, dance has been used to reflect and enforce social organization, express both secular and religious ideas, and serve as recreation, to name just a few. On a bodily level, dance is all about combining the qualities of speed, direction, distance, intensity, and so on – qualities that require a highly developed sense of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
The key message here is: Skilled use of the body reflects bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
In Western culture, the activities of the body aren’t typically thought of as having anything to do with intelligence. But that’s a historical artifact that comes from associating intelligence with things like reason and logic. If you look more closely, you’ll notice that lots of cognitive pursuits also include a distinct physical element. Think of a surgeon conducting an operation, for instance. Precise movements are absolutely essential to her task.
Even in noncognitive pursuits, it’s hard to consider bodily skill nonintelligent. When he was in front of the net, famous hockey player Wayne Gretzky would hold the puck for an extra instant; that disrupted the game’s rhythm and threw off the goalie. Some would call that instinct. But Gretzky rightly stated that no one would claim a doctor had learned his profession by instinct – so why should they say the same about his understanding of hockey?
It’s also just factually incorrect to claim that the brain doesn’t play a role in bodily movement, because it does – though it’s more a means to an end. The brain helps refine, redirect, and adapt motor behavior so that it better serves a person’s goals. In other words, the body and the brain are constantly communicating with each other to execute a given motor task.
Additionally, impairments in the brain – especially in the left hemisphere – can reduce a person’s motor abilities. Take, for instance, the various types of apraxia. An individual with this condition can cognitively understand a request and is physically able and willing to perform it – yet is unable to actually do it.
We’ve covered all the externally oriented intelligences. Next, it’s time to move on to the internally oriented, personal intelligences.
---
The personal intelligences deal with knowledge of yourself and others.
In 1909, the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud was giving lectures throughout the US, outlining his theories about the human psyche.
After one of Freud’s lectures, the dean of American psychologists and philosophers, William James, came up to him and said, “the future of psychology belongs to your work.”
That meeting was symbolic in an important way. Freud and James each represented very different philosophies and conceptions of psychology. Freud’s focus was on the development of the individual psyche – a person’s inner life. James, on the other hand, was much more oriented toward people’s relationships with others. Their diverging visions are a good way of understanding the difference between the two forms of personal intelligence: intrapersonal and interpersonal.
The key message here is: The personal intelligences deal with knowledge of yourself and others.
To flesh out the distinction between intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences, it’s worth pointing to some distinct features of each.
Intrapersonal intelligence is all about knowing yourself – being able to get in touch with your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The novelist Marcel Proust, who wrote introspectively about feelings, is a great example.
By contrast, interpersonal intelligence is all about knowing others – specifically, their moods, temperaments, motivations, and intentions. The political and religious leader Mahatma Gandhi, who was renowned for his ability to understand and influence other people, might be the best example of this.
Both inter- and intrapersonal intelligence are located in the same area of the brain: the frontal lobes. This is where sensory information and limbic system information are integrated. In less technical language, it’s where your perceptions – including your perception of other people – combines with information about your emotional states.
Though the neurological basis for the personal intelligences is shared among all people, the ways they manifest in culture vary greatly – perhaps more so than for any of the other intelligences.
Balinese culture, for instance, emphasizes the “masks” that individuals wear. People are identified by the many roles they play, in a kind of constant performance. This frame emphasizes interpersonal intelligence over intrapersonal. This is much different from Moroccan culture, where the interpersonal and intrapersonal selves are both cultivated but in clearly demarcated, separate contexts. The selves that Moroccan people display in public are deliberately much different from their private selves.
October 12, 2024
No one is good at everything but everyone is good at something. And, more often than not, if given the opportunity and support, everyone can be good at multiple things.
October 30, 2025
First published in 1983 (I read the recently revised edition), Frames of Mind is the book that lobbed a grenade into the IQ-testing bunker. Gardner argues that intelligence isn’t one tidy score on a bell curve but a whole family of distinct types - linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and (later) naturalist. It’s not a self-help cheerfest it’s a serious rethink of what it even means to be clever, backed by brain science, child development, and real-world examples from poets to chess prodigies.
I went in expecting a dense academic slog, but Gardner’s enthusiasm is infectious. His case studies - kids who can rebuild engines but flunk algebra, or autistic savants with razor-sharp musical minds -make you question every lazy assumption about intelligence. The payoff’s huge: it redefines what brilliance looks like.
Favourite line: “If we are to encompass adequately the realm of human cognition, it is necessary to include a far wider and more universal set of competences than has ordinarily been considered.”
Dense, yes 100%! But still the gold standard for rethinking how we measure (and misunderstand) human smarts.
I went in expecting a dense academic slog, but Gardner’s enthusiasm is infectious. His case studies - kids who can rebuild engines but flunk algebra, or autistic savants with razor-sharp musical minds -make you question every lazy assumption about intelligence. The payoff’s huge: it redefines what brilliance looks like.
Favourite line: “If we are to encompass adequately the realm of human cognition, it is necessary to include a far wider and more universal set of competences than has ordinarily been considered.”
Dense, yes 100%! But still the gold standard for rethinking how we measure (and misunderstand) human smarts.
Read
November 21, 2011 This is a very good book about human minds and capacity. I was like super inside the book. I read about the Theory of Multiple Intelligences for school and got interested and keept reading.
After that, I came to the internet, and searched about my own "intelligences" so, there they are:
4.57 Self: You have a very good sense of self. You like to spend time by yourself and think things over. You will often take in information from another person, mull it over by yourself, and come back to that person later to discuss it. You like working on projects on your own. You often prefer to learn by trial and error. Effective techniques to enhance your learning include keeping a journal and giving yourself time to reflect on new ideas and information. More ideas:
Go on "guided imagery" tours.
Set aside time to reflect on new ideas and information.
Encourage journal writing.
Work on the computer.
Practice breathing for relaxation.
Use brainstorming methods before reading.
Listen to and read "how to" tapes and books.
Read cookbooks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.43 Language: You enjoy enjoy saying, hearing, and seeing words. You like telling stories. You are motivated by books, records, dramas, opportunities for writing. Effective techniques of enhancing your learning using your language intelligence include reading aloud, especially plays and poetry. Another idea is to write down reflections on what you've read. You may also enjoy exploring and developing your love of words, i.e., meanings of words, origin of words and idioms, names. Use different kinds of dictionaries. Other ideas:
Keep a journal
Use a tape recorder to tape stories and write them down
Read together, i.e., choral reading
Read a section, then explain what you've read
Read a piece with different emotional tones or viewpoints — one angry, one happy, etc.
Trade tall tales, attend story-telling events and workshops
Research your name
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.29 Logic/math:You enjoy exploring how things are related, and you like to understand how things work. You like mathematical concepts, puzzles and manipulative games. You are good at critical thinking. Here are ways to work with this intelligence in your lessons:
Arrange cartoons and other pictures in a logical sequence.
Sort, categorize, and characterize word lists.
While reading a story, stop before you've finished and predict what will happen next. I swear I do this one.
Explore the origins of words.
Play games that require critical thinking. For example, pick the one word that doesn't fit: chair, table, paper clip, sofa. Explain why it doesn't fit.
Work with scrambled sentences. Talk about what happens when the order is changed.
After finishing a story, mind map some of the main ideas and details.
Write the directions for completing a simple job like starting a car or tying a shoe.
Make outlines of what you are going to write or of the material you've already read.
Look for patterns in words. What's the relationship between heal, health, and healthier?
Look at advertisements critically. What are they using to get you to buy their product?
After that, I came to the internet, and searched about my own "intelligences" so, there they are:
4.57 Self: You have a very good sense of self. You like to spend time by yourself and think things over. You will often take in information from another person, mull it over by yourself, and come back to that person later to discuss it. You like working on projects on your own. You often prefer to learn by trial and error. Effective techniques to enhance your learning include keeping a journal and giving yourself time to reflect on new ideas and information. More ideas:
Go on "guided imagery" tours.
Set aside time to reflect on new ideas and information.
Encourage journal writing.
Work on the computer.
Practice breathing for relaxation.
Use brainstorming methods before reading.
Listen to and read "how to" tapes and books.
Read cookbooks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.43 Language: You enjoy enjoy saying, hearing, and seeing words. You like telling stories. You are motivated by books, records, dramas, opportunities for writing. Effective techniques of enhancing your learning using your language intelligence include reading aloud, especially plays and poetry. Another idea is to write down reflections on what you've read. You may also enjoy exploring and developing your love of words, i.e., meanings of words, origin of words and idioms, names. Use different kinds of dictionaries. Other ideas:
Keep a journal
Use a tape recorder to tape stories and write them down
Read together, i.e., choral reading
Read a section, then explain what you've read
Read a piece with different emotional tones or viewpoints — one angry, one happy, etc.
Trade tall tales, attend story-telling events and workshops
Research your name
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.29 Logic/math:You enjoy exploring how things are related, and you like to understand how things work. You like mathematical concepts, puzzles and manipulative games. You are good at critical thinking. Here are ways to work with this intelligence in your lessons:
Arrange cartoons and other pictures in a logical sequence.
Sort, categorize, and characterize word lists.
While reading a story, stop before you've finished and predict what will happen next. I swear I do this one.
Explore the origins of words.
Play games that require critical thinking. For example, pick the one word that doesn't fit: chair, table, paper clip, sofa. Explain why it doesn't fit.
Work with scrambled sentences. Talk about what happens when the order is changed.
After finishing a story, mind map some of the main ideas and details.
Write the directions for completing a simple job like starting a car or tying a shoe.
Make outlines of what you are going to write or of the material you've already read.
Look for patterns in words. What's the relationship between heal, health, and healthier?
Look at advertisements critically. What are they using to get you to buy their product?
March 15, 2014
Early in the book, I was quite intrigued with the idea of Gardner's theories, but as he explained his multiple intelligences, I lost interest. At first go through, I don't agree that music, body-kinesthetic or even language rate as different intelligences...spatial, maybe; math maybe; "personal"? I've come to understand that is a "yes" (thank Goleman for branding that emotional intelligence) Obviously, there are people more skilled than others in the different areas, but scales of intelligence? I say no.
Now, I should note that I scored high in the past on so-called IQ tests.., but I think those are skewed, culturally, if not in other ways - language associations, spatial orientations, etc are not in my opinion reflective of intelligence (and if course, I'm not a researcher in the field, so that is opinion only for any future trolls who want to argue with me.) There are so many highly intelligent people who cannot solve the problems posed on standardized tests, and yet are extremely adept at problem solving. That is what I consider a true measure of intelligence...not the ability to use/understand music, math, language, etc. The abstract concepts of math might be the exception to my generalization - there has to be intelligence to manipulate the symbols.
I have think more on this.
Now, I should note that I scored high in the past on so-called IQ tests.., but I think those are skewed, culturally, if not in other ways - language associations, spatial orientations, etc are not in my opinion reflective of intelligence (and if course, I'm not a researcher in the field, so that is opinion only for any future trolls who want to argue with me.) There are so many highly intelligent people who cannot solve the problems posed on standardized tests, and yet are extremely adept at problem solving. That is what I consider a true measure of intelligence...not the ability to use/understand music, math, language, etc. The abstract concepts of math might be the exception to my generalization - there has to be intelligence to manipulate the symbols.
I have think more on this.
October 7, 2019
This book has some interesting concepts, and although it was updated 8 years ago from the original publication in 1983, I imagine there are newer theories out there. The premise makes sense-we have multiple intelligences. This theory is a well needed update from earlier theories from the 1700s and on, including Gall, Broca, Binet, Piaget, etc.
Intelligence is a set of skills of problem solving. The author sets forth 7 intelligences: Linguistic, Musical, Logical-Mathematical, Spacial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, and Personal. All are explained in detail in the respective chapter. A chapter critiques the theory. There's a chapter on symbols and culture. There's also a chapter on education of intelligences and ideas for improving the education system. Let's look at MI and not base life on IQ tests which only measure a fraction of one's intelligence.
The book was long, tough to get through, and a bit too sexist.
Intelligence is a set of skills of problem solving. The author sets forth 7 intelligences: Linguistic, Musical, Logical-Mathematical, Spacial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, and Personal. All are explained in detail in the respective chapter. A chapter critiques the theory. There's a chapter on symbols and culture. There's also a chapter on education of intelligences and ideas for improving the education system. Let's look at MI and not base life on IQ tests which only measure a fraction of one's intelligence.
The book was long, tough to get through, and a bit too sexist.
July 23, 2024
This could’ve been a longer pamphlet if it wasn’t for the page long sentences with long winded academic babble
Gardner writes:
“In my own view, this tenacity is legitimate: after all, the science of educational psychology is fairly young; and in the wake of superior conceptualizations and fine measures, the practice of matching the individual learner’s profile to the materials and modes of instruction may still be validated.”
… why not just write:
“I think this persistence is valid because educational psychology is still new, and matching students with the right materials and teaching methods might still prove to be effective.”
Gardner writes:
“In my own view, this tenacity is legitimate: after all, the science of educational psychology is fairly young; and in the wake of superior conceptualizations and fine measures, the practice of matching the individual learner’s profile to the materials and modes of instruction may still be validated.”
… why not just write:
“I think this persistence is valid because educational psychology is still new, and matching students with the right materials and teaching methods might still prove to be effective.”
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