A look at multiple intelligences and their implications

As a writer and a researcher in his field, Victor Restis is also versed in various learning styles and theories that have been used throughout the years. In this blog, he talks about Howard Gardner's theory on multiple intelligences.

Multiple intelligences, or MI, is a theory that challenges the idea of a single IQ, where individuals have one central cognitive facility in which intelligence is housed. Classical theories mostly view intelligence through the lens of academic performance. In other words, people have been measured fully by how well they can perform in basic academic subjects, especially in mathematics and science.

When MI was first introduced in the early '80s, it came as a shock, and even an unnerving challenge to the status quo, shares Victor Restis. Howard Gardner, the recognized father of this theory, proposed that there are seven types of intelligence:

1. Linguistic-Verbal

2. Logical-Mathematical

3. Bodily-kinesthetic

4. Visual-Spatial

5. Musical

6. Interpersonal

7. Intrapersonal

8. Naturalistic

These intelligences account for a fuller examination of a person's intelligence. One of the problems with the more classical approaches to learning is that because of limited scope, people have been classified to be less intelligent than others, when in fact, they may prove to be intelligent in other rarely measured aspects.

Gardner's progressive thinking has inspired the academic community to take a second look at the instruments that determine a person's intelligence, notes Victor Restis. Perhaps this also paved the way for a much-needed open-mindedness towards other people who excel in different ways.

Today, school curricula are charted to be more inclusive of individuals who can perform excellently in often ignored facets of intelligence, which also has implications in an individual's later life.