Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Gardener's 9 Types Of Intelligence



For as long as the human brain has been conscious the debate over intelligence and how to measure it has been both a healthy and unhealthy way to categorize human intelligence. In school we are taught that intelligence is measured in just a few ways. The easiest and most simplistic is through mathematics, which is a very legitimate and easy measure of intelligence. Two plus two equals four every time. which takes subjectivity out of the equation, making it easier to quantify. 

 In many instances in conflict among humans it is easier to simplify things, turn them into black and white issues, ignoring the complexities of each situation. Furthermore, schooling teaches that testing is the most effective form of measuring intelligence. So much so that many societies base funding upon how high a school tests. 

For example, for more than a century our intelligence quotient (IQ Test) has been used to measure how clever people are and Mensa, the society for the intellectual elite, has even used the test to weed out sub-par applicants. Dr. Roger Highfield, the Telegraph columnist and one of the authors of the paper, said: “When you come to the most complex known object, the human brain, the idea that there is only one measure of intelligence had to be wrong. We can all think of people that have poor reasoning and brilliant memories, or fantastic language skills but aren't so hot at reasoning, and so on. Now once and for all we can say there is not a single measure such as IQ which captures all the intelligence that you see in people.” The best measurement of intelligence, in my opinion and of many in the scientific community, comes from the postulation/theory of Howard Earl Gardner (born July 11, 1943), an American developmental psychologist and the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. He is best known for his theory of multiple intelligence, as outlined in his 1983 book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligence.

 In 1983 Gardener described 9 types of intelligence: 

 I have developed a game to play among friends to rate yourself and yours friends on a scale of 1-10 on each of the nine intelligence, thus giving you the ability to more accurately rate the yourself and the people you know on the intelligence scale. This will should provide you and the participants with a clearer vision of you and themselves, as well as the world around you. First, however, you must understand what each intelligence represents and the details therein. Clicking on each link above will reveal the details of all 9 intelligence outlined in Garner’s book.

Summary

Many people have bought into the fact that only a few intelligences on this list are required for human development. In affect, they have been brainwashed to believe that only those intelligences that earn a person an abundance of money provides value to a person. But, as in anything in life, there is no black and white, only shades of grey. No issue is that simple in life. Without masters of all intelligences being respected and admired, humans cannot advance as a race. Yes, we each have the innate ability of self-preservation. The only thing second to that is community preservation (i.e. the intrinsic ability to want your community to persevere and thrive).

Clearly there is a balance that one must have to be a healthy individual, and those that are narcissistic and selfish are inherently not revered. That being said, the key to human survival and they key to human advancement comes in the form of diversity, not only in “race” but in diversity of thought process. Our differences can either make us stronger or destroy us, and the acceptance of our differences make us unstoppable. On a personal or on a large scale, having the awareness to utilizing all resources within your reach is an intelligence that will make you a leader, one of the elite. Ignoring or even discrediting the differences in others as inferior will not only lead to personal failure and enforce personal barriers, but it will also lead to a collective failure if upheld delusionally by a large majority. 

Read over each intelligence and determine what are your strengths and weaknesses and also determine people you know who have certain intelligences that you lack. You may see the world differently when you look just a little bit deeper and learn something about yourself and the world around you.


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