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The Multiple Intelligences (MI) model

Howard Gardner was working at the Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center when he became aware that brain-damaged patients lost different abilities depending upon the location of the injury in the brain. For example, damage to the frontal lobe results in difficulty producing speech that is grammatical, although it does not affect the ability to understand what has been said. In Frames Of Mind (1983), Gardner says, “Other, even more specific linguistic disorders turn out to be linked to particular regions in the brain: these include selective difficulties in repetition, naming, reading, and writing” (p. 51). He notes that some individuals who have experienced significant aphasia (a loss of language) from brain damage can maintain their musical abilities while, conversely, others become disabled musically yet keep basic language skills (p. 118). To Gardner, this suggests a biological basis for specialized intelligences. Working from the definition that intelligence is the ability to solve a problem or create a product that is valued in a culture, Gardner developed a set of criteria to determine what set of skills comprise an intelligence. These criteria are focused on solving problems and creating products; they are based on biological foundations and psychological aspects of intelligence.

The definition of intelligence that is supported by these criteria – the ability to solve a problem or create a product that is valued in a society – is very different than the definition implicit in standardized I.Q. and aptitude tests (one based on verbal fluency, wide vocabulary, and computational skills). While the traditional definition of intelligence focuses on inert knowledge and skills that are especially valuable in school, Gardner’s definition is far wider. “Creating a product” could encompass transforming a blank canvas into a picture that evokes emotion or it might mean forming and leading a productive team from a group that couldn’t agree on anything. The definition of “solving a problem or creating a product” is a pragmatic one, focusing on using an ability in a real-life situation. Applying his criteria resulted in Gardner asserting that there are more intelligences than those relied upon in I.Q. tests and typically valued in school.

Intelligence	Definition	Examples of people who evidence this intelligence
linguistic	sensitivity to the meaning and order of words	Mario Cuomo Barbara Jordan Tom Brokaw
logical-mathematical	the ability to handle chains of reasoning and to recognize patterns and order	Benjamin Banneker Bill Gates Stephen Jay Gould
musical	sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm and tone	Louis Armstrong George Gershwin Yo Yo Ma
bodily-kinesthetic	the ability to use the body skillfully and handle objects adroitly	Mia Hamm Harry Houdini Michael Jordan
spatial	the ability to perceive the world accurately and to recreate or transform aspects of that world	Maya Lin Peter Max Frank Lloyd Wright
naturalist	the ability to recognize and classify the numerous species, the flora and fauna, of an environment	Charles Darwin Jane Goodall John Muir
interpersonal	the ability to understand people and relationships	Martin Luther King, Jr. Ronald Reagan Oprah Winfrey
intrapersonal	access to one's emotional life as a means to understand oneself and others	Bill Cosby Anne Frank Eleanor Roosevelt

From Becoming A Multiple Intelligences School (ASCD Press, 2000) by Thomas R. Hoerr, Ph.D.

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