Analysis Of Howard Gardner's Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences

According to Howard Gardner in “Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century”, intelligence is defined as a “biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture” (33-34). Gardner further explained it by saying that intelligences are potentials “that will or will not be activated, depending on the values of a particular culture, the opportunities available in that culture, and the personal choices made by individuals and/or their families, schoolteachers, and others” (34). He goes on to say that intelligence is not a single faculty and that many types of intelligences exist and operate with different capacities
(Gardner 35). The eight different intelligences consist of spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, linguistic intelligence, naturalist intelligence, the personal intelligences, and existential intelligence. To begin with, spatial intelligence involves the ability to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and the patterns of more enclosed areas (Gardner 42). My spatial capacity is pretty average. There are certain times when I can consider myself a spatial intellectual and certain times when I cannot. For example, I am very aware of my surroundings. I can be walking in one direction and know whether someone is coming up behind me. I can also feel when someone is staring at me, even though I am not looking directly at them. My spatial capacity is low when I am driving an automobile. Parking a car seems to be a very difficult task for me. My rear view vision is not well at all. When parallel parking, I cannot tell whether I have enough space to fit the car in the parking space, nor can I actually properly maneuver the car to park it. I try to use the rear view mirrors, but they also do not seem to help. My musical intelligence capacity is far better than my spatial capacity. Musical intelligence consists of the “skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns” (Gardner 42). I would say that my musical intelligence is just above average. In middle school, I was a part of the school chorus. Our chorus would create winter and spring concerts every year and we would perform in front of the entire school body. It was a pretty amazing feeling. I had to learn how to calculate when to start singing the lyrics at the precise moment so that it could flow perfectly with the melody of the music. If I sang the lyrics on the wrong beat, the whole song would be ruined. The music and the beat would not flow well nor come together as one. Not only did I enjoy being a part of the school chorus, but music is also an important aspect in my life. I listen to music all the time! I cannot imagine my life without it. I can automatically tell what instruments are being used when listening to a song and tell what kind of beats are being played. Moreover, my bodily-kinesthetic intelligence capacity can be considered average. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is “the potential of using one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve problems or fashion products” (Gardner 42). As stated before, music is a very important aspect in my life. Music is always being played in my house and my family is always dancing. Growing up in a Hispanic household, I was always surrounded by music like bachata, ranchera, and cumbia. All of these different types of music have a specific style of dance that go along with it. They all involve a lot of feet and hand movement but not as much as cumbia does. Cumbia in particular involves a lot of spins, turns, and feet/hand movement. When dancing cumbia, I have to calculate when to do a turn and move my feet in a specific manner that corresponds to my dancing partner’s feet movement. It was difficult to learn at first, but as I continued to dance, I learned how to coordinate my feet in order to dance cumbia smoothly. My logical-mathematical intelligence is relatively low. Logical-mathematical intelligence includes “the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically” (Gardner 42). I am not very good at math nor science. I have always struggled in all of my math classes ever since I was young. I always had difficulty problem-solving and doing science projects. Math and science classes were always difficult for me, especially because I preferred English classes. For example, I took Physics last year, and it was one of the most difficult classes I have ever taken in my life. Physics involves math and science, which are the two subjects I am not strong in. Calculating things such as work, energy, and force were very difficult for me to learn. In contrast to my logical-mathematical intelligence, my linguistic intelligence is very high. Linguistic intelligence is the “sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals” (Gardner 41). I excel in all of my English classes and my spoken and written language are exceptional. I am able to communicate productively with different people and it is fairly easy for me to learn different languages. I am currently fluent in three languages which are Spanish, English and Italian. Although I was raised in a Spanish speaking home, I quickly grasped the English language at school. By the time I entered high school, I took Italian classes for four years and speak it pretty well. Not to mention, I use my high capacity of the usage of written language for my own personal benefit. During my junior year of high school, I entered a Peace and Justice Writing Contest sponsored by William Paterson University and wrote about the Dream Act Revolution. I argued my view about the topic and won first place, along with $500.00! Besides having a high capacity in linguistic intelligence, I also have a high capacity in the personal intelligences.
The personal intelligences consist of interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence. Interpersonal intelligence is “a person’s capacity to understand the intentions, motivations, and desires of other people and, consequently, to work effectively with others” (Gardner 43). My interpersonal intelligence is high. It is very easy for me to relate to others. Working at a clothing store, it was my job to try to figure out what my customers were shopping for. I had to understand what the customers desired in order for me to help them successfully find something they liked so that they can buy it. Intrapersonal intelligence is “the capacity to understand oneself, to have an effective working model of oneself and to use such information effectively in regulating one’s own life” (Gardner 43). My intrapersonal intelligence is also high. I am fully aware of my desires, fears and capacities. My goal before this summer ends is to go to an amusement park, and get over my fear of roller coasters. I know that I am capable of going on roller coaster rides in order to get over my fear. I plan on taking a stand in my life so that I will no longer fear riding roller coasters ever
again. Much less than my high capacity in the personal intelligences, my naturalist intelligence is average. Naturalist intelligence involves recognizing and categorizing natural objects. When I was younger, I used to have a cat. I was so interested in learning about the different cat breeds that I began to do my own personal research. I found out that my cat was a Siberian cat breed. I can now look at any type of cat and classify its breed by looking at their physical characteristics. I also enjoy being outside, especially in the woods. That is one reason why I decided to attend the Ramapo College of New Jersey. In Addition, my existential intelligence can be considered very high.
Existential intelligence pertains to capturing and thinking about the fundamental questions of existence. I am always asking myself questions about life. I always find myself pondering about my future goals, what my purpose is in life, and why horrid things occur around the world. I have the tendency to go online and research all the questions I have in order to obtain answers. I currently attend catechism classes every Sunday morning. Not only do we discuss our Catholic faith, but we also discuss life. My teacher always asks us what we think our purpose is in life and what steps we should take to make the world a better place. He gets us thinking about these important questions, and we all begin to put our input and thoughts about life into our class
discussions. To conclude, my capacity in each individual intelligence vary according to their characteristics. My capacity can range from very low to very high. Although my capacities for each intelligence are different, all of the intelligences are used by me in my everyday life. By analyzing each intelligence, I realized that they all interrelate. Different intelligences are used in each scenario I wrote about, it is just that some intelligences are used more than others. For example, I enjoy listening to music which I why I learned how to dance. My bodily-kinesthetic intelligence interrelates with my musical intelligence. I even use the intelligences where my capacity is low! I just did not realize that before. This was a very valuable exercise. This exercise changed the way I see my intelligences. By determining how each intelligence plays a role in my life, I have come to find that each of these intelligences shape my intelligence as one. It explains why certain individuals are better at doing certain things than others, and vice versa. I learned that individuals are not born either “intelligent” or “stupid”. Individuals achieve and develop each intelligence through their experiences in their culture, family, and life.