Howard Gardner Theory Of Intelligence

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Howard Gardner and Theory of Intelligence


In the article written by Howard Gardner entitled, “A Rounded Version: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences,” he explores why some people, even though they have performed poorly on society’s standardized intelligence tests, are significantly more successful than those who have scored well on the same tests. He covers the notion that people are not necessarily unintelligent because of poor performance on standardized tests like the SAT test. The realization of this unresolved flaw provoked Gardner to further research the matter. Through his findings, he discovered that multiple forms or styles of intelligences could be attributed to human development and performance in society. He came up with a list of seven intelligences and briefly gave some explanation as to the reasons why they are significant. However, he also notes that a person becomes a functional member of society only upon achieving a balance of these intelligences. Only being gifted with the mastery of a single form of intelligence often produces abnormal behavior; the most common are the idiot savants and autistic children.
The first of these seven intelligences is the Musical Intelligence. This is for those who have a proficiency in learning to play musical instruments. Gardner explains how a young boy named Yehudi Menuhin was first exposed to music at the age of three, and by the age of ten, he was playing the violin for international audiences. Gardner implies that Menuhin was “biologically prepared”(381) to play the violin from birth and claims that this form of intelligence, though not as fully recognized as mathematics, is one which deserves our consideration.
The second is the Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence. This is attributed to those who have a proficiency in the control of their body movement, i.e., physical activity or sports. The example Gardner uses is that of Babe Ruth; when Ruth was just ...