Blog

May 27, 2022

Multiple Intelligences

A brief introduction to Multiple Intelligences

For many years it has been recognised that the two halves of our brain (“left” and “right”) govern different aspects of our behaviour. Whereas the left half of the brain is more logical, the right half is more creative. Whereas the left brain is concerned with language, maths, and ordered material; the right brain deals with spatial awareness, music and emotions.

Having worked extensively with war veterans and others who have suffered extensive brain damage, Professor Howard Gardner (of Harvard Graduate School and the Boston Veterans Administration Medical Centre) was intrigued by the way in which certain intellectual abilities could be damaged (or spared) independently. This selectivity was also apparent in the enhanced abilities of savants and child prodigies. He proposed that intelligence was not a unitary phenomenon but comprised a number of different “strands”. Each of these represented a relatively autonomous intellectual capacity. Each could be located to a specific region in the brain. Each had its own developmental history and its own end-state of competence.

Each individual possesses all of the intelligences (although in extreme circumstances it may appear that an individual is severely lacking in one or more) but they are not all present in equal proportions. The particular combination of intelligences (and their relative strengths) forms a profile that is unique to the individual.

  • Visual-Spatial Intelligence
  • Logical Intelligence
  • Musical Intelligence
  • Naturalist Intelligence
  • Intrapersonal Intelligence
  • Interpersonal Intelligence
  • Linguistic Intelligence
  • Physical Intelligence
See also  Gifted and talented kids
Intelligence
About G. Tso