MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES BY PRO HOWARD GARDNER

 

The theory of Multiple Intelligences proposed by Prof Howard Gardner attracted extensive attention from the education community and imposed a change on the practice of emphasising only the IQ Scores in human intelligence evaluation.  

​

Sixteen years after 1983 (i.e. in 2009), Prof Gardener proposed to include Naturalistic Intelligence as the eighth intelligence.  Following that, Existential Intelligence has also been introduced but has yet to be included into his framework notwithstanding years of research carried out.

 

I think the Frames of Mind theory for Multiple Intelligences has its shortcomings as the existence of some crucial intelligences or wisdoms is not necessarily supported by western empirical studies and tests.  

​

MORALITY AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

​

Morality is the value that people take for doing or not doing something.  it is a "scale" in people's mind for measuring their own behaviour.  This "scale" differs for different places, countries and nations due to their different geographical environment, climate, historical and religious background.  Hence the Egyptian culture, Greek culture, Roman culture, Hebrew culture, Muslim culture and Chinese culture differ from each other.  Each of them has its own advantages, and they are all worth inheriting.

​

With their universality and consistency, culture and morality affect people's thought and behaviour in a profound and consistent way, without being noticed.  Big as it is, the world can surely allow the coexistence of different cultures.  Although there might not be sufficient scientific and empirical support for including  Prof Gardner's "Existence Intelligence" as a universal intelligence, the importance of Moral and Cultural Intelligence should not be overlooked.

​

RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE

​

Finally, I would like to mention a kind of wisdom at an even higher level - "Religious and Spiritual Intelligence".  Despite the fact that religion and God are difficult to be verified scientifically, individuals can have real and concrete experience and understanding about them.  As religion and belief are both related to the metaphysical realm, it is not surprising that they can hardly be studied and understood by psychologists.

 

​

​

Source:  Extract from Gifted Gateway, theory by Dr. Chan K Wai

​

​

​

Tags:   Education    /   Talent Development  

​