.
> single neat number (100 = normal / average)
> genetic intellectual horsepower
>general ("g") overarching factor
> assessed by timed, short answer, pen-paper IQ tests
> first used by Alfred Binet , in 1900, in France
> "If
the dozens of IQ tests in use around the world were suddenly to disappear,
would we no longer be able to assess intellect?" (Source:
Gardner, 1998, p. 20)
ReferencesGardner, Howard (1998, Winter). A multiplicity of intelligences. [Special Issue]. Scientific American, 9(4), 18-23.
"That tests cannot capture all of a person's skills in a neat number is an important crux of the article by Howard Gardner. In "A Multiplicity of Intelligences," he espouses his view, developed in part after working with artists and musicians who had suffered strokes, that human intelligence is best thought of as consisting of several components, perhaps as many as nine. Components such as spatial and bodily-kinesthetic, embodied by, say, architect Frank Lloyd Wright and hockey player Wayne Gretzky, elude test measures. Gardner's classifications are not arbitrary; he draws from evolution, brain function, developmental biology and other disciplines.Yam, Philip (Ed.). (1998, Winter). Intelligence considered [Special Issue]. Scientific American, 9(4), 6-11.Gardner has been quite influential in education circles, where his theory is often required study for teachers-to-be. He feels, however, that some of his ideas are being misinterpreted. He mentions Daniel Goleman's best-seller, Emotional Intelligence, the central concept of which is based on multiple-intelligences theory. Gardner maintains that the theory should not be used to create a value system, as suggested in Goleman's book. People with high emotional quotients aren't necessarily well adjusted and kind to others--think Hannibal Lecter (Yam, 1998, p. 7).