Howard Gardner (born 11 July 1943) was an American developmental psychologist and professor who was best known for his 1983 theory of multiple intelligences.
Biography[]
Howard Gardner was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1943, and he taught piano from 1958 to 1969. He graduated from Harvard in 1965 and studied under Erik Erikson, and Gardner became a professor of cognition and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a professor of neurology at Boston University School of Medicine.
Theory of multiple intelligences[]
In 1983, Gardner proposed his theory of multiple intelligences, believing that human intelligence can be manifested in several different ways. He also believed that people think and learn in different ways, and that the most unfair education is an education where everyone is treated the same way; he sought for schools to utilize the concept of multiple intelligences to allow for students to discover their smarts. According to Gardner, there are eight types of intelligence:
- Verbal/linguistic - word smart; people who use words effectively to persuade, argue, entertain, or instruct; people who think in words
- Logical/mathematical - number smart; incorporates both mathematical and scientific abilities; the intelligence of numbers and logic
- Visual/spatial - picture smart
- Bodily/kinesthetic - body smart
- Musical/rhythmic - music smart
- Interpersonal - people smart
- Intrapersonal - self smart
- Naturalistic - nature smart; enjoys nature and animals, expertise in species classification systems, expertise in habitat maps, ability to chart relationships among several species, interest in folk taxonomies, enjoys herbal lore, hunting rituals, and animal spirit mythologies