Gardner's Theoretical Basis for his Multiple Intelligences Theory
(The following is a more detailed commentary of Gardner's eight criteria. To read a summary, click here.)
BackgroundBefore discussing Howard Gardner's established criteria for determining what is and what is not a human intelligence, that is, before moving into his series of theoretical 'signs' of what constitutes an intelligence, a quick question. How familiar are you with the two personalities or "split-brain" myth of the 1960's, so well popularized by Roger Sperry, of Caltech University?
If not so familiar, then perhaps this overview may be of interest. Sperry's Nobel prize winning left-brain/right-brain model of thinking suggested that the right hand side and the left hand side of our brain possessed specialized and differentiated functions. At that time, the left cerebral hemisphere was thought to be more verbal, logical, or clinical, that is, more analytical; the right cerebral hemisphere influenced the more artistic and sensing side of our intellectual nature.
In other words, when I took psychology courses back in the 1970's, psychologists suggested that our left hemisphere handled, in the main, logical/linear functions and verbal/linguistic skills, and the right half of our brain developed a reputation as the artistic, imaginative, emotional, musical, and holistic side. Today, while that left-right caricature is considered most simplistic, it may well have opened up additional avenues to "a more sophisticated and updated version" (Armstrong, 2000, p. 3) into the true nature of cognitive functioning and how all of us acquire, store and employ domain specific content knowledge.
The split-brain hypothesis represented a challenge to the concept of intellectual quotient (IQ) which, in the main, purported to assess verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematical skills, skills that were once considered to be handled by the left half of the brain. Today, we know that IQ scores actually measure only some of the overall abilities of expert athletes, artists or musicians. According to Gardner, all such skills ought to be equally considered as 'intelligent.' To prove his theory, Gardner developed a series of signs or "tests that each intelligence had to meet to be considered a full-fledged intelligence and not simply a talent, skill, or aptitude. The criteria he used [contained] the following eight [eight] factors" (Armstrong, 2000, p. 3).
The Eight Factors Howard Gardner Used to Support his CriteriaEarly on and at the outset of his research on cognitive competencies, Gardner, recognized that an important problem was the setting up of a rigorous and specific set of criteria for what counted as an intelligence which he then defined as the capacity to solve problems valued in one or more cultural settings. Of particular significance in that definition was the recognition of cultural values as an important element in human intelligences. The evidence on which Gardner drew his data for his Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory came from an elaborate set of criteria stemming from a rich variety of dissimilar beginnings, including evidence from studies of brain-damaged patients, prodigies, autistic individuals, geniuses, developmental psychology, cross-cultural comparisons, biographies of gifted individuals and neurobiology.
More to that latter point, Gardner's distress over the typical view of intelligence initially arose from his own decades long research with talented children and with brain-damaged adults. His findings ultimately convinced him that humans could be cognitively "at promise" or "at risk" in a certain area of skill, and that strength or limitation in one area failed to forecast accomplishments in others. For example, if one was strong or weak in telling stories, solving mathematical proofs, navigating around unfamiliar terrain, learning an unfamiliar song, mastering a new game that entailed dexterity, understanding others, or understanding himself, one simply [did] not know whether comparable strengths (or weaknesses) [could] be found in other areas.
Please note, that Gardner is the first to admit that his list of eight ways of solving problems and making products is not all encompassing; nevertheless, he believes that his intelligences show the following eight criteria or "signs.'
To sum up all of the above, Gardner argues that over time, we have developed many kinds of symbol systems for varied disciplines. Each of his intelligences has its own set of images that it uses which are unique to itself and are important in completing its identified set of tasks. Therefore, Gardner believes that his intelligences are utilized "in the performance of roles that cultures value around the world." As such, his postulations do not fit well into either informational processing characteristics of intelligence or into the traditional and narrower factorial analysis 'g' approach ... the conventional approach used by most current mainstream psychologists.
1. The intelligences have potential evidence of isolation in localized areas of the brain due to brain damageGardner believes that each of his intelligences must have some demonstrable physical basis: therefore they can be spared or destroyed by a brain lesion. In other words, different forms of brain damage can well identify the breakdown of cognitive capacities. For example, the linguistic/verbal intelligence can be compromised or spared by strokes.
To reformulate the immediate above as a query: Is there biological evidence that each of his intelligences can be neurologically localized in the brain in such a way that its core properties can be revealed by being spared in isolation as a result of a lesion to a specific area of the brain or by disease? Over the past two decades, Gardner has accumulated ample research evidence through his work at the Boston Veterans Administration hospital to respond to this inquiry in the affirmative. He thus postulates that his intelligences are autonomous when they can be obliterated or preserved, in isolation, upon trauma to the brain.
To continue the above line of thinking, it is a well known fact that there are thousands of kinds of columns in the brain, each of which process different kinds of information. When someone has a stroke or an injury to the head area, not all skills break down equally. Instead, certain abilities can be significantly impaired while others are spared. For example, a lesion in the middle areas of the left hemisphere often impairs one's linguistic abilities, while leaving musical, spatial, and/or interpersonal skills largely undamaged. Conversely, a large lesion in the right hemisphere will compromise musical and spatial skills, leaving linguistic abilities relatively intact. In other words, the fact that a particular lesion may selectively destroy some abilities while sparing others suggests that the two abilities perhaps are autonomous.
In his ongoing work at the Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center and at the Boston University School of Medicine, Gardner works with numerous brain damaged patients, people who have suffered strokes or other kinds of traumas. These patients have lost their ability to carry out certain kinds of functions. To cite one general example, Gardner has found that brain damaged patients could become totally aphasic as a result to damage to the left hemisphere, that is, they could hardly speak or understand, yet they were able to draw very well or sing very well. In fact, some of the aphasic patients have been able to continue to compose music. Gardner feels that this process ought to make the more serious researcher pause at any attempt to argue that the same mental processes are involved in the same way in drawing, music, language, or many other things. Gardner thus believes that his intelligences can be analyzed into modules or components, or at least, have the possibility of being relatively autonomous from other brain functions. To sum, a true intelligence will have its function identified in a specific location in the human brain.
2. The intelligences can be observed in isolated forms, including the existence of savants, prodigies, autistic individuals, and other exceptional populationsAnother of Gardner's main interest is the existence of exceptional capacities or talents of certain individuals within specialized populations. The fact that an individual may have extreme unevenness in abilities raises another possibility of separate intelligences. Special and rare populations such as savants, autistics, geniuses, prodigies, or gifted children often exhibit a jagged cerebral profile as unique as one's finger, voice, or eye print.
To prove this point, note these two extreme examples. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was able to compose music at about the age of five. And in the movie Rain Man (based on a true story), the actor Dustin Hoffman represented Raymond, a logical-mathematical savant. Raymond was able to calculate rapidly and accurately multi-digit dates and numbers in his head down to the day of the week. On the other hand, he functioned extremely low in the linguistic-verbal domain, lacked insight into his own personal life, and like Amadeus, possessed below normal peer relationships. These two examples suggest that there are specific human abilities which can demonstrate themselves to high degrees in unique cases. Such cerebral profiles often indicates extreme and isolated skills in just one intelligence area.
To conclude this part, individuals such as Raymond and Wolfgang allow Gardner's intelligences to be inspected in relative isolation. For example, savants can perform complex arithmetic calculations or musical accomplishments but appear severely 'retarded' in all other cognitive capacities. Gardner especially notes that autistic and other impaired children can play music brilliantly, but unable to talk or socialize with their peers. And child prodigies seem to be ordinary little children except for a special skill, such as virtuosity with a musical instrument. Gardner suggests that their ability to play and compose music has been scientifically traced to certain areas of the brain.
3. The intelligences have identifiable core operations or set of operationsGardner states that just as a set of (DOS) operations are required to run a computer, so too do each of his intelligences require operations. That is, the core operations of an intelligence should be identifiable as "computational devices" or mental operations of some recognizable kind.
To demonstrate this point, here are three examples. First, in the case of a musical exceptionality, sensitivity to musical structure, harmony, timbre, melody and rhythm ought to be readily identified. Second, the core operations of the bodily kinesthetic intelligence allows one to master established fine motor routines for building a structure or the ability to copy the physical movements of others. And finally, the author Carolyn Chapman expresses how an intelligence can be sparked by special kinds of stimuli inherent to a particular intelligence. As I can not match her prose, I shall quote her directly. She comments:
For instance, the verbal/linguistic intelligence can be set into motion by the reading of a familiar line that in turn triggers the words remaining within that context. "'Twas the night before Christmas," primes the pump and one spews out, "and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." Thus, the core operation of the verbal/linguistic intelligence has been activated. To sum, there is an identifiable set of procedures and practices which are unique to each true intelligence.
4. The intelligences have distinctive developmental histories including a definable set of expert or "end-state" performancesGardner feels that each of his eight intelligences ought to be able to exhibit a history of clear development to the point whereby humans can present a traceable path to proficiency, that is, to being an expert in that area. Or, restated in the form of a question: Is there a distinctive history or clear-cut developmental trajectory along with a definable set of expert "end-state" performances? To answer that question, one only has to look closely at the superior skills of expert athletes such as golf's Eldrick 'Tiger' Woods, basketball's Shaquille O'Neal, or hockey's Wayne Gretzky, to see the answer. Traceable path for these three superior athletes can be mapped from basic, to complex, to higher order. Of equal importance are the developmental steps that are utilized in attaining such expertise, as also witnessed by naturalists or salespeople.
In other words, an intelligence has an identifiable set of stages of growth with a Master Level which exists as, what Gardner calls an 'end-state' in human development. Society contains numerous examples of individuals who have reached this Mastery Level for each of Gardner's eight intelligences. Developmental cognitive scientists continue to study the developmental stages of human growth of the mind. This ongoing research suggests a clear pattern of developmental history.
5. The intelligences have evolutionary histories and evolutionary plausibilitiesGardner suggests that each of his intelligences become more credible if their evolutionary roots can be traced to current phenomenon. In other words, does the intelligence in question, have a plausible history in human evolution, dating back to species of long ago? This question can be perhaps best illustrated by examining the musical intelligences of birds, the spatial intelligence of mammals or early pottery, archeological artifacts or cave drawings. In short, there appears to be adequate evidence that the human species has developed intelligence over time via human experiences. Thus each of the eight intelligences can have its development traced through the evolution of 'home sapiens.'
6. The intelligences can be supported from experimental psychological tasksCognitive psychologists have been able to develop tasks that specifically indicate which skills are related to one another and which are discrete. For example, visualizing and solving a jigsaw puzzle typifies the visual/spatial intelligence, whereas one's logical/mathematical intelligence can be clearly illuminated, as the title suggests, by the detection of a logical pattern.
7. The intelligences can be supported somewhat from psychometric findingsAre the eight intelligences in line with data from other branches of psychology and the behavioral sciences? Gardner believes so. While he (gingerly) cautions the usage of the traditional standardized test, he nevertheless includes this mainstream measure for reliability and validity measures when he states that "batteries of tests reveal which tasks reflect the same underlying factor and which do not." Gardner does support the usage of psychometric instruments such as the intelligence quotient (IQ) test to identify and quantify unique intelligences for specific scientific study.
8. The intelligences are susceptible to encoding in human symbolic systemsThis last but not least "sign" of an intelligence seems to be one of the key criteria in Gardner's MI model; he believes that each intelligence depends for its expression upon both "internal" and "external" factors. By "internal" factors, I believe that Gardner means "computational devises", or "organs of the mind." While the overt manifestations of these symbol systems are public and thus readily observable, of greater relevance is the inferences of inner mental processes needed to manipulate these visible or apparent symbols. I further believe that Gardner's "external factors" are the existing symbol systems, prosthetic devices, or external amplifiers, that enables the inherent skill-to-be to express itself in the real world of today. To give just four example for here, maps, language, logical expression and arithmetic well represent consequential constituents of respective intelligences.
To restate this final 'sign' criteria most simply, Gardner views symbol systems as "one of the best indicators of intelligent behavior" (Armstrong, 2000, p. 8) with each intelligence operating on a different symbol system. He believes that it is being able to encode symbols such as numerals, gestures, art forms (i.e., pictures, words or/and marks), musical patterns as well as a host of other symbolic forms which makes us human beings so 'human.' His concept of separate symbol systems seeks to broader our notion of intelligence to include psychological constructs usually perceived as outside the range of the concept of intelligence.
References
Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple intelligences in the classroom 2nd Edition. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
(The above is more detailed commentary of the eight criteria. To read a summary of all of this, click here.)
The Multiple Intelligences (MI) of Howard Gardner (HG):
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