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Multiple Intelligences

Culture, Context, and the Flow of Intelligence

Imagine you’re introduced to someone and told that he’s the most intelligent person on earth. Now imagine that this person just sits there being intelligent. He doesn’t do anything, say anything, make anything — he just sits there. And it turns out that’s all he’s ever done! Give me a break! Without some output from this guy, you’re not going to buy the idea that he’s intelligent. Being intelligent isn’t some abstract state of being — it’s a contact sport. We can only show our intelligence through our actions.

What kind of actions reveal our many intelligences? Gardner has two important insights here.

First, the way any intelligence is expressed is vitally shaped by culture — high ability in the same intelligence will be expressed differently in different cultures. We speak different languages, but we can show high Linguistic Intelligence in any language. But this means much more: Different cultures will value different kinds of ability with language. Our culture has largely lost the joy of good storytelling, but there are cultures in which that ancient human ability is highly valued. On the other hand, writing Web text that grabs the attention of Web-surfers is a linguistic skill whose value grows daily within our particular culture. By tying intelligence to valued products in a culture, Multiple Intelligences Theory points to the topic of the next chapter — the importance of practicality — of usefulness in the real world.

The second insight flows from the first. No intelligence is ever expressed without a context. We show Linguistic Intelligence with words — written or spoken. We show Spatial Intelligence by drawing with pencil and paper or navigating confidently through a wilderness. We show Personal Intelligence through interaction with others. There are always materials (words, pencils, people) and contexts (drawing, navigating, interacting).

To summarize: We show each intelligence within a matrix of cultural expectations and opportunities, using materials that allow us to express that intelligence, and in a context which allows, requires, and rewards the expression of that intelligence. So what? What does this have to do with your work for your own child?

These insights have four gigantic implications for you:

• First, intelligences have to be somehow useful — being intelligent is an action, not a passive state of being.
• Second, if each intelligence is always expressed through the particular materials of that intelligence, if it can only be expressed through its appropriate materials, then to develop an intelligence we have to provide the materials that intelligence “feeds on.”
• Third, to observe an intelligence growing, we need to watch for it in the materials through which it is expressed.
• Fourth, when we think this way, education changes from a focus on “putting” knowledge into an individual to fitting an individual for a productive interaction with a cultural context.

Rapids Ahead!

Critics have raised a good many questions about Multiple Intelligences Theory. We’ve mentioned the first: What do we gain by extending the word intelligence to a variety of abilities whose importance has long been recognized? You’ve already heard my answer: If something helps a person be effective in the world, then I’m less interested in what we call it than in how we can foster its development. Multiple Intelligences Theory plays an important political role by calling lots of important abilities intelligences. If this gives them status, perhaps it helps us value them as we should. If the question “What is intelligence?” becomes a bit fuzzier, that may be all to the good.

Gardner knows how to strike a bell that resonates for us. His theory gives status to a set of human abilities that have sometimes been neglected, especially in formal schooling. Whether these abilities deserve to be called intelligences matters less to you and me than the good we can do for our children by acknowledging their importance.

Critics have also been concerned that the theory has been enthusiastically applied without adequate research to show that it is viable. Robert Sternberg, who we’ll meet in the next chapter, asserts that “it is not clear that there has been even a single piece of research that could be interpreted as supporting, or even as testing, the theory.”

Whatever the final word on Multiple Intelligences Theory, what parts of it can we safely use now?

Multiple Intelligences Theory and the Intelligence River

As your vision of the Intelligence River grows, Multiple Intelligences Theory will provide you with four key ideas.

• There are many different ways to be intelligent. Instead of asking “How smart are you?” we can ask “How are you smart?” The question is liberating: Many abilities are valuable to the world.
• Each different intelligence is always expressed in a particular cultural context. By tying intelligence to valued products in a culture, Multiple Intelligences Theory points to the importance of practicality — of usefulness in the real world. This idea will be our focus in the next chapter.
• Each different intelligence is always expressed through the particular materials of that intelligence. To develop an intelligence, we have to provide the materials that intelligence “feeds on.” To observe an intelligence growing, we need to watch for it in the materials through which it is expressed.
• Above all, there’s an enormous burst of optimism that comes from this fresh perspective: Many intelligences means many ways for your actions to make a difference for your child.

Remember the question you answered at the start of the chapter: How are you smart? Has your answer changed or expanded as you’ve met the Multiple intelligences?