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 Howard Gardner, in his 1983 landmark book: Frames of Mind - defined intelligence as the ability to solve problems, or create products, that are valued within one or more cultural settings.
At the time Dr. Gardner’s book was published, he introduced his theory of Multiple Intelligence to the world and the world has been spinning around the concept ever since.
An integral part of Dr. Gardner’s theory is that the current practice of measuring intelligence is short sighted and only assesses one maybe two of the kinds of intelligences people possess and which make them successful in life. The type of intelligence tapped by standardized intelligence tests is mostly related to academic experience and those individuals who do not excel in academics are labeled as less intelligent than others who do well on measures of academically based intelligence.
For instance the skills, knowledge and expertise required of individuals who are gifted musicians, artists, activists, advocates, athletes, dancers etc. are not assessed nor accounted for by standardized intelligence tests. This is true even though people who excel in these non-academic fields may be more successful and at peace with life than those who score well on the standardized measures of intelligence.
 Dr. Gardner’s premise is that the field of intelligence testing is limited by near sightedness and because of this many students are penalized by the emphasis placed on traditional academically oriented measures of intelligence and teaching that is narrowly focused toward learners who learn in a specific way – not in multiple ways. The following is a review of Dr. Gardner’s current types of Multiple Intelligences (only 7 were identified in 1983).
1. Some one with Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence has innately well-developed verbal skills and a keen sense of sounds, word meanings and rhythms of words.
2. An individual who has Mathematical-Logical Intelligence is able to think both conceptually and abstractly and has an innate capacity to discern logical or numerical patterns.
3. Persons with Musical Intelligence demonstrate the innate ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch and timber.
4. When someone has innate Visual-Spatial Intelligence they exhibit the capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly.
5. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence is exhibited when someone has an innate ability to control their body movements and handle objects skillfully.
6. A type of intelligence that allows someone to detect and respond appropriately to the moods, motivations and desires of others is known as Interpersonal Intelligence.
7. When an individual excels in Intrapersonal Intelligence they show an innate capacity for self-aware and are in tune with their inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes.
8. Being drawn to wanting to know, recognize and categorize plants, animals and other objects in nature is a description of someone who has Naturalist Intelligence.
9. When an individual is naturally drawn toward asking deep questions about human existence, the meaning of life, why we die, how did we get here etc., is exhibiting Existential Intelligence.
Today’s popular standardized intelligence tests basically tap into Gardner’s first two types of intelligence - Verbal-Linguistic and Mathematical-Logical. As you can see from the description of the other seven types of intelligences, these tests of intelligence fall short of being able to identify all of the aspects of intelligence that make humans interesting, successful and contributing members of society.
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