Addressing Critics of MI Theory

Recently I received a letter from a colleague who was sympathetic to the theory of multiple intelligences, but was being hounded by individuals who believed that intelligence was singular and that it could only assessed by psychometric instruments. Here is what I wrote to the colleague.

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Many thanks for your letter.  I always like to hear from those who have encountered my ideas and the ideas (including criticisms) of my colleagues. 

But, in candor, I have to say that your letter saddens me.  Over a forty-year period I have sought to make my ideas—their  sources, their claims, their implications, their limitations—clear. You can find the main points in my various books in education, on the MI Oasis website, which has posted dozens of blogs, and in two volumes of my collected papers, The Essential Howard Gardner on Mind and The Essential Howard Gardner on Education.

The critics whom you cite are fighting wars of the last century!  They are not open to new ideas, new ways of thinking, because their minds have already been made up...and appear to be calcified. 

Contrary to their claims: 

There are many kinds of science, many views of science.  Indeed, science changes with every decade—just think of the impact of microscopes, X-rays, cyclotrons, CRISPR, powerful computers, Large Language Machines, etc. And social science, a term I consider to be hyperbolic, is not the same as particle physics. 

The same goes for theory—many views of what a theory is. In history alone,  there are scores of theories about  history—the same in musicology or clinical  psychology. Importantly, there are many ways to test ideas and find out which ideas are worthwhile, which are worth pursuing and critiquing, which have educational implications, which do not. 

I cannot take seriously: the notion that intellect—and our research team is now studying animal, plant, and artificial 'intelligences'—can only be ascertained by a short paper and pencil (or computer-administrated) test.

Nor can I take seriously: a test that claims to determine one's intellect, one's potential, one's place in the world. 

Such notions could only be clutched tightly and retained indefinitely by ideologues. I speak, write, and address individuals  who have open minds (which is different from having intelligence, or multiple intelligences!). It is not worth trying to address individuals who have already closed their minds to any view of intelligence other than that developed over a century ago by psychometricians, some of whom were  open to having their minds changed. 

I hope that these brief remarks are of some help to you. If not, I am sorry. 

If you’re interested in my response to MI theory erroneously being labeled a “neuromyth,” see my article “Neuromyths: A Critical Consideration.”

Recognizing Musical Intelligence

A new study published in the International Journal of Music in Early Education provides new evidence for musical intelligence as an independent cognitive strength. The research was led by Tim Brown, a researcher in the University of California San Diego School of Medicine Department of Neurosciences and Director of the Sentia Laboratory for Childhood Systems Neuroscience.

Brown and his team asked four and five-year old children in transitional kindergarten to sing back a musical note played to them, matching the pitch and syllable e.g. “daa” as they heard it. They found that children doing less well in school were able to do this on a similar level compared to higher performing peers. This ability was not linked to the usual socioeconomic predictors of early learning success, such as maternal education, household income, or household language, and is not correlated with reading or math ability.

By demonstrating that musical ability is an independent strength for students, the study reinforces Howard Gardner’s MI theory that intelligence is multi-faceted and that standardized assessments do not fully capture a child's potential. The study implies that integrating arts, especially music, into educational curricula could be particularly beneficial for some children. Recognizing that children who perform poorly in standard academic settings might excel in other areas could help reduce the stigmatization of these students and provide them with more opportunities to succeed.

Read an article about this study here.

Alanis Morissette and Financial Intelligence

Morissette just reissued her Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie album as a 25th anniversary edition

In a recent interview with The New York Times link here, singer and songwriter, Alanis Morissette mentioned Howard Gardner and the theory of multiple intelligences. She suggested that financial intelligence should be part of his theory, saying:

I had the pleasure of interviewing Howard Gardner, who came up with the multiple intelligence theory, for my podcast, and I asked him if I could add some intelligences. I think financial intelligence is an intelligence. It feels like activism to be a female empowered around money and knowledgeable around it, and to be entering into the seat of entrepreneurialism.

Howard Gardner’s response would be that it is easy to think of other possible intelligences – whether financial, cooking, or technological, it’s a parlor game.  The challenge is to show that the existing set of intelligences in MI theory, which have years of research to corroborate them, is incapable of explaining a significant human behavior.  

What Alanis Morrissette might describe as “financial intelligence” is actually a combination of other existing intelligences. For example, having good knowledge her own financial situation and understanding how to invest, budget, etc. would come under logical-mathematical intelligence. If Morrissette is mainly talking about being a successful entrepreneur, then other intelligences might come into play. For example, this might also require intrapersonal intelligence to understand one’s own financial goals, needs, and priorities, or linguistic intelligence when marketing her business and communicating well with others, or understanding the market and various laws.

Gardner’s list of intelligences represents a serious scholarly effort to ascertain and delineate cognitive capacities. Anyone is free to nominate candidate intelligences, from humor intelligence to sexual intelligence, to cooking intelligence, as have been suggested to him in the past. But to be taken seriously, Gardner argues that the nomination needs to fulfill two criteria: 

1. Have a set of criteria for what is, and what is not, an intelligence, as laid out, for example, in Frames of Mind. 

2. Be sure not to confuse DESCRIPTION (how an intelligence works) with PRESCRIPTION (how we would like individuals to act, to use those intelligences). His delineation of intelligences is strictly amoral: any intelligence can be used benevolently or malevolently. How those intelligences are used is very important; he and his team have devoted twenty years to studying Good Workers, Good Persons, and Good Citizens as part of The Good Project. But the use of an intelligence is a different question than the nature and operation of that intelligence. 

The Alanis Morissette podcast episode in which Howard Gardner appeared, is here.

Multiple Intelligences: Time to Venture Beyond the Human Kingdom

An introductory note:

We recently received a letter from a retired veterinarian who shared her thoughts on the intersection between the theory of multiple intelligences and the animal kingdom. We felt her ideas might be interesting to a wider audience, so we asked that she write a blog on the topic. We thank her for this generous contribution to MI Oasis!

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© Jane Mussey 2024

Since I was four years old, I’ve expressed opinions about animal behavior and cognition—though I didn’t use words like “cognition” back in 1957. I was told that the animals I loved—dogs, cats and horses—didn’t think or plan; did not form bonds or mourn; and were not considered intelligent in any way. I did not accept that view in 1957. And now in 2024, thanks to the work of many investigators in this field and my own career as a veterinarian, I have a lot of data to support my child’s-eye contentions. 

Everyone reading mainstream media has likely seen reports and videos of experiments on animals’ ability to reason presented with novel situations, usually involving a food reward. (Truth: I’m motivated by food rewards to do actual problem-solving as well.) We’ve seen videos of animals at play, animals rescuing people and other animals from life-threatening situations, animals comforting the dying, protecting the vulnerable, alerting the sick to impending health crises, smelling out drugs, finding living people and dead people, identifying the presence of cancer and other diseases—even lizards becoming our beloved and steadfast companions!

What more do we need to see human beings and other life forms as fellows on a web of intelligences, interconnected by a wide range of overlapping intellectual attributes,  and very little separating us. And if we stretch: A fruit fly can feel regret? A plant can sense danger and communicate it to nearby plants? Wasn’t our part in this so much easier when we were at the top of the intelligence heap, without close contenders, as it allowed us to perceive we have the right to dominate the worlds of plants and animals?

Early in my vet school days, I bought a copy of Howard Gardner’s Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. I was ripe for a new, groundbreaking view of human intelligence, having seen fellow students (and myself) shine in some areas and perform badly in others; having read about college football stars becoming world-renowned in widely unconnected areas; seen otherwise undereducated musicians shine in mathematics and non-communicating autistic people reveal a wealth of perception with a simple letter board.

Howard’s book was an explosion, a revolutionary view not only of intellectual differences but of the great worth of those differences. Instead of a human hierarchy of prized talents of the mind, we could finally consider the John Coltranes and Sarah Vaughans geniuses by dint of musical gifts, worthy of high intellectual regard—up there with Stephen Hawking and Katherine Johnson. And the intelligence of the kinesthetic geniuses and interpersonal geniuses could be equally valued with mathematical/logical giants. We could encourage school kids in their areas of strength and brilliance, and refrain from “pushing them up against their deficiencies,” in the words of the great neurologist, Oliver Sacks. 

Sarah Vaughan

Thanks to Howard’s work, we have a framework of human intelligences to hold in high regard, with new evidence and wisdom to support it. But what about other life forms? Perhaps each species needs to be more completely understood by human beings, and equally valued for the intelligences they bring to the world. Perhaps we need to first concentrate on animals that we see as somehow stupid, such as cattle, or chickens or insects. How do we best assess the responses of animals for whom we cannot easily detect emotions and reactions to novel situations? Human beings are generally very adept at identifying emotions and responses to stimuli based on facial expressions, but what about assessing animals that have facial expressions that are too subtle for us to discern? 

Much work has been done on this since my early ventures and adventures in the animal world. Interpreting animal behaviors has become a science with educated and versatile integrity. I don’t know if we’ve gone further afield than fruit flies, but we’re way ahead of the early days when animals were presumed not to feel pain and therefore weren’t worthy of anesthesia. 

Beyond identifying areas of animal cognition, are we able to identify multiple intelligences in animals we rarely interact with? Are we able to identify and value intelligences that are very unlike those of human beings? Thomas Armstrong, long an advocate of “MI theory” has suggested that we try to perceive animal intelligence as we do our own: What multiple intellectual strengths may we identify in other species, and how may we frame them as worthy of awe, respect and reverence even when we may not fully understand their function?

Accepting the multiple intellectual strengths of other life forms may bring our own species into more colorful relief, accepting both our varied awesomeness and our abject limitations. These insights may help us accept ourselves as a splendid and ineffable product of evolution with the ability to push past prior “strengths” that are now, perhaps, maladaptive (clan behavior, paranoia, and warfare) into a “peaceful kingdom” we’ve always sought, but as a group, never attained. 

This piece was lightly edited for publication by the Offices of Howard Gardner.

Can MI Theory be Helpful in Dealing with Dementia?

 © Howard Gardner and Matthew Call

Note from Howard: 

I recently received a heartfelt letter from Matt Call a veteran dementia practitioner, and Melissa Mirabello a long-time teacher, about their work in Florida, USA. MI theory had sparked in them a creative response to dementia care. They’ve developed a diagnostic questionnaire for dementia sufferers—this instrument can be administered by caregivers. The hope is to discover strengths in different intelligences for better-targeted care; in the best-case scenario, holistic and sustainable practices can improve the lives of those with dementia.

On a personal note, by integrating MI into his diagnostic routine and designing care based on his findings, Matt believes that his work life has been transformed and thousands of individuals have benefited. MI Theory has endless positive ripple effects; Matt’s work testifies to the potential of the framework  ability to instill hope and foster progress in people’s lives.

In a nutshell, MI provides practitioners with a means of identifying suitable activities and materials that keep individuals engaged, providing much needed stimulation that helps to slow  their decline. Currently, Matt and Melissa are developing a comprehensive educational framework, one focused on holistic approaches and strategies for enhancing and improving  dementia care. As is the case with other “Good Practices” entities mentioned on this website, Matt and Melissa seek to apply the theory of multiple intelligences in a thorough and beneficial way. 

The following examples describe how using MI theory to develop care strategies and materials can improve the lives of patients suffering from dementia.

testimony in Matt’s words:

Visual/Spatial

Scenario:  A woman who cannot verbally communicate develops a series of urinary tract infections as she is not able to relay that she needs to use the bathroom or that she has soiled herself. With each infection, she experiences physical pain and exacerbated dementia symptoms, like increased confusion. On one occasion, the woman was hospitalized because the condition spread to her kidneys as it was not treated quickly enough.

Care based on MI results:  Upon meeting with the woman’s family, I learned that she was a children’s book illustrator. After completing an MI survey, which showed a high level of visual/spatial intelligence, I suggested using the Picture Exchange System, an augmentative communication tool where people relay information using pictures. I was able to teach the woman how to use the system and she was then able to request the bathroom by simply pointing to a picture of a toilet, which decreased her incidents of UTI’s significantly. (It’s important to note that those with dementia who do not possess visual/spatial intelligence have a very hard time using this augmentative communication tool.)

Bodily-Kinesthetic

Scenario:

After her husband loses his ability to write, a woman begins contemplating placing him in memory care, as she believes there is nothing anyone can do to help her husband. She decides to contact me before making the decision to place him in a facility. 

Care based on MI results:

After speaking with her, I discovered that the man was a former engineer who learned best through movement. I told her about your MI theory and how we can tap into her husband's strengths to reteach him how to write. For several weeks, the woman and I employed a hand-over-hand technique, which helped him regain the ability to write.

Musical

Scenario:  A woman who lives at home frequently becomes combative toward her caregivers during self-care activities like bathing and toileting. Her doctor prescribes her an antipsychotic to help calm her, but the medicine sedates her so much that she sleeps much of the day. Not liking the affects the medication has on her, the family contacted me to help. 

Care based on MI results:  After conducting an MI survey on the woman, a former music teacher, it showed that she had a high level of musical intelligence. I suggested playing music during these activities, which helped eliminate much of her aggression, without the need for medication and its side effects.

Linguistic-Verbal

Scenario:  A former teacher begins having trouble naming objects and action words.  This ability loss causes her to isolate from others because she didn’t want people noticing her impairment. 

Care based on MI results: While interviewing the family it was obvious that she had a love of words. To help combat her anomia, I suggested activities that aligned with her verbal intelligence, including rhyming, naming synonyms, and word searches. Not only did the woman enjoy engaging in these activities; but she became more sure of herself and her ability to communicate.

Logical-Mathematical

Scenario: A woman who worked as a bookkeeper for over a decade leaves her job to help her

husband run his delicatessen. As time passes, her husband notices that she is becoming increasingly forgetful, e.g., not filling orders and even not remembering to turn off the meat slicer. Because of this, the man tells her that she cannot help him anymore, which devastates the wife. 

Care based on MI results:  After meeting with the husband (who mentions the wife’s sadness of not being able to help him with his work), I suggested that there may be something she can still do. After learning that she was a former bookkeeper, who has always loved numbers, I asked if she’d ever done any number-related tasks at the deli, which she had not. I proposed he have her do things like taking inventory of supplies and counting cash at the end of the day. I informed him that her work would need to be checked, but he should try it since it will help her feel like she's contributing. To his surprise, she did much better than he thought she would and the activities gave her a sense of purpose.

Interpersonal

Scenario:  A man who was an athletic director spends little time at home engaging in therapeutic activities that his wife got for him to keep him busy while she worked. 

Care based on MI results:  After the wife contacted me, I conducted a MI survey which suggested that he he possessed interapersonal intelligence. I suggested that she have him attend a day program where he could be around others which she agreed to. The man did very well there, participating in all of their group activities.

Intrapersonal

Scenario:   A short time after moving to a memory care facility, a woman was losing a significant amount of weight and the staff believed it was dementia-related. This type of weight loss can cause a person to be placed on hospice.

Care based on MI results:   After speaking with the woman’s family, I discovered that this woman had always enjoyed journaling. I also determined that the woman possessed intrapersonal intelligence and may prefer eating alone. The woman spent the next meal away from her peers and ate all of her food. 

Naturalist

Scenario:  A woman residing in a memory care facility suffers from major depression and is unwilling to participate in therapeutic activities, spending most of her time in bed and also neglecting self-care. After antidepressants did little to help the woman and other interventions failed, the family contacted me to intervene. 

Care based on MI results:  While talking with the family, I learned that the woman has a life-long passion for the outdoors. I conducted an MI survey that showed that she possessed a high level of naturalistic intelligence, much more than other intelligences. I suggested the facility implement activities that cater to her love of the outdoors, e.g., creating an outdoor garden and purchasing picture books of animals. These holistic interventions improved her mood considerably more than pharmaceutical interventions. 

Positive outcomes based on MI-inspired strategies:

• Helps people stay in their homes longer

• Helps people relearn skills

• Helps people feel more comfortable and even live longer

• Reduces people’s need for harmful medications

• Helps caregivers with practical, sustainable strategies

• Reduces caregiver stress

• Offers individualized, suitable activities 

Here is a link to a TV news story on Matt’s work: A Woman Says Therapy is Helping Her Husband with his Dementia

Here is a link to Matt’s website: The Center For Holistic Dementia Care