Howard Gardner
American developmental psychologist at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Harvard psychologist whose book Frames of Mind (1983) proposed multiple intelligences, arguing that abilities such as music, movement and understanding people are distinct intelligences. The theory is popular in schools and disputed in psychology.
Why this person matters
Gardner challenged the idea that a single score from standard tests captures human ability, and his theory led many teachers to broaden what they value in learners. Critics argue that it lacks empirical support and that test data point to a general factor, so it is best treated as an influential but contested framework.
Main contributions
Frames of Mind and the theory of multiple intelligences
In Frames of Mind (1983) he proposed seven relatively independent intelligences, including musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. He argued that these deserve the label intelligence as much as the school-based skills that standard psychometric tests measure.
A list of eight intelligences
Intelligence Reframed (1999) added a naturalistic intelligence, giving eight: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic. He has also discussed existential and pedagogical candidates.
Project Zero and The Good Project
He was a founding member of Harvard Project Zero, which Nelson Goodman started in 1967, and heads its steering committee. Since the mid-1990s he has directed The Good Project, founded with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and William Damon.
Context and limits
Visser, Ashton and Vernon (2006) found that many of Gardner's intelligences correlate with the general factor g, and Waterhouse (2006) wrote that no published studies had shown the theory's validity. Gardner has replied that choosing intelligences involves judgement, and that multiple intelligences are not learning styles, which lack empirical support. He says he is uneasy about some ways schools apply the theory.
In your introductory course
Thinking, language and intelligence.Multiple intelligences appear in the intelligence chapter as an alternative to a single general factor, usually alongside Sternberg's triarchic theory and the criticisms of both.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 7.4. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1971
He received his PhD from Harvard.
- 1981
He was named a MacArthur Fellow in the December 1981 class.
- 1983
He published Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.
- 1986
He became a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
- 1999
He added a naturalistic intelligence, bringing the list to eight.
Sources
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Howard Gardner faculty profileUniversity. Institutional biography inspected.
- MacArthur Foundation, Howard Gardner, class of December 1981Society or association. Institutional biography inspected.
- EBSCO Research Starters, Howard Gardner (developmental psychologist)Reference work. Reference article inspected.
- SAGE Reference, Gardner, Howard (excerpt)Publisher. Abstract inspected.
- Wikipedia, Howard GardnerReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Theory of multiple intelligencesReference work. Reference article inspected.