Essay on Intelligence: A Product of Social Construction

Howard Gardner introduced the theory of multiple intelligences stating that each person possesses a blend of at least eight different kinds of intelligence: verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and environmental/naturalistic (Bruno, 2009).

In “A Rounded Version: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, Howard Gardner illustrates how there are a variety of intelligences. Gardner starts off with an example how IQ tests may predict achievement in school but may not predict achievement in life. After finding out certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain functions, such as “Broca’s Area” which is responsible for sentence production, Gardner proposes the existence of multiple intelligences. Multiple studies later led him to propose seven distinct intelligences; Musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Each intelligence has certain classifications. According to Gardner’s classifications, I realized my intelligences are bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, and intrapersonal.

Howard Gardner developed the Multiple intelligence theory. Gardner believed that the human mind did not have one general intelligence but many that had independent functions. He believed that the previous measure of intelligence did not accurately measure the capability of the human mind. "While formulating this theory, Gardner placed less emphasis on explaining the results of mental tests than on accounting for the range of human abilities that exist across a vast majority of cultures. (www.associatedcontent.com)

Additionally, Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” There are different forms of intelligence that go beyond what our school system measures. Students are not a unit to be measured, and students cannot be assigned a numerical value to identify their intelligence. Students are diverse—they learn at different speeds, and they learn in different ways. Focusing solely on test scores is hurting our students and deviating away from building our society on success and excellence. Critics are slowly realizing the problems associated with standardized tests—they create anxiety, they are extremely biased, and they do not measure the ability to think deeply.

Traditionally, people have defined someone who is intelligent as an individual who can solve problems, use logic to answer questions, and think critically. But psychologist Howard Gardner has a much broader definition of intelligence. Compare the traditional idea about intelligence with Gardner's. How have his ideas changed the way we assess the strengths and weaknesses of people?

“Blacks still score below 75 percent of American whites on most standardized tests” (Jencks and Phillips). The belief that intelligence and aptitude are innate seems to be especially important in discussions of racial differences (Jencks and Phillips 6). White Americans score closer on IQ tests to other white populations across the globe than to the worldwide black average (Saletan 1). An important question that may come to mind is whether intelligence tests biased. Intelligence tests are likely to be culturally biased when a standardized test reflects what is learned through experience in a culture that does not regard to another race as highly (Young). For instance, if a standardized test result represented an ingroup preference exclusively than it may only measure a specific part of intelligence; for example the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, WAIS, is more verbal while the Raven's Progressive Matrices, RPM, is more visual (Young). This may cause a majority of individuals with autism to do better on the RPM due to autistic students connecting with images rather than words. Young has stated that intelligence tests that only focus on certain neurological criterias and are not well indicators of intelligence due to it not equally indicating all types of intellect. Yet a majority of psychologists now agree that intelligence tests measure developed

Any child that is in any type of schooling knows what standardized testing is. It is required in every state of America, and not a single child likes it. In recent years a controversial issue has been weather or not standardized testing should be used to judge a person’s intelligence. On one hand, many people believe that standardized testing should not be used because they say it is not a good way to judge a person’s real-world intelligence. On the other hand, however, others argue that standardized testing is an excellent way to predict a person’s intelligence.

According to Nesbitt (2005), other researchers misrepresented standardized tests by associating intellect with heritability. IQ testing to dissimilar cultural groups/people with disability opposes questions as to what IQ really measures. According to Arnold et al (2011), IQ testing generates a floor effect when pertained to people with lower IQ's. Example, in a practice IQ scores beneath a definite cut-off are still being utilized to conclude and categorize an individual’s intelligent disability. An alternative explanation to this matter would be to evaluate people from dissimilar culture groups and or those with mental retardation and incapacities with more than standardized tests. As for the natural bias for the mentally retarded, individuals should be assesses based on their needs, and the atmosphere influenced within their lives.

These have posed a problem, though. Some believe that it doesn’t do justice (Argumentative Essays 1). This could be a problem, because teachers have different ideas on how to teach, and it differs from each one. They are not a good way to decide who is smarter than someone else (1). There are many different types of intelligence. All over the nation, there are lots of ethnic differences. There isn’t a test that can accommodate for everyone’s interests. Richer students have aids to help raise their test scores, but the same can’t be said for the less fortunate; their parents are not equipped with knowledge to help them, so the horrible cycle trickles down to the kids, and there’s nothing that can be done to help them (2). Teachers have different ideas on how to teach, and it differs across the country. It is not a good deciding factor on who is smarter than whom.

IQ tests can be considered biased measures of intelligence, as there are many factors that have to deal with it. Even though IQ test are total fairness it all depends on a person’s social interaction rate. For example, if a test taker comes from a third world country where education is not available vs. a test taker here the scores will range. Bias is present when a test score has implications that relevant showing the portrayal of the subgroup of test takers. It often has to do with social viewpoint and knowledge about the world.

Standardized tests are biased, unnecessary, and opposing the youth, while they are still the main method of calculating students’ intelligence in the U.S. today. Standardized tests are currently used as the primary measure of student intelligence in schools. These are tests done by the state in which the schools reside, and are the same for every other schools in the state. They compare and label schools based on their students’ scores. Standardized tests should not be used to measure intelligence in schools because they are unfair to minority students, GPA is a more reliable method, and the testing takes away from actual learning time in school.

The brain is a complicated thing, and there is evidence to suggest that the mind is not dominated by a single general ability. To many, Howard Gardner is an influential man in the field of education. He is known for his famous theory of multiple intelligences.

Howard Gardner is a child psychologist whose work focused on stages of development, challenging typical notions of intelligence by broadening aspects of what is considered to be “smart.” In his 1983 book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, he developed a more in depth look at the educational background that makes up every person. His work seemed blasphemous of the entire sanctity that education had previously been based on. While this was questioned, it was still widely accepted as it was a logical expansion on which to base people’s understanding of intelligence. Gardner’s new theory of Multiple Intelligences is based upon this expansion into regions of knowledge that people never thought to acknowledge before. While traditional

The theory of multiple intelligences was developed by Dr. Howard Gardner in 1983. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences is a critique of the standard psychological view of intellect: there is a single intelligence, adequately measured by IQ or other short answer tests. Instead, on the basis of evidence from disparate sources, the theory claims that human beings have a number of relatively discrete intellectual capacities. IQ tests assess linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence, and sometimes spatial intelligence; they are a reasonably good predictor of who will do well in school. This is because humans have several other significant intellectual capacities (Harvard University).

Howard Gardner recognizes that intelligence is more than the single logical-mathematical processing of stored facts that intelligence tests assess. He views intelligence as problem-solving, problem-creating, and problem-finding across a range of situations. There are a total of eight Multiple Intelligences: Logical-Mathematical, Linguistic, Musical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and lastly, Naturalist Intelligence. These Intelligences allow educators to carefully integrate several content areas within a specific curricula.