Howard Gardner
and the 9 intelligences
From Howard Gardner, QUID+ learned the importance of the theory of multiple intelligences, according to which children are endowed with several intelligences. Parents can leverage one or more of the types of intelligence in which their child shows greatest aptitude, i.e. his strengths, to stimulate him to build his life skills, discovering that, thanks to this approach, everyone has the same opportunities.
Howard Gardner is a psychologist and former professor at Harvard University in Massachusetts. He is universally recognised as the father of the theory of multiple intelligences, an approach that, in contrast to the conception of intelligence as a single ability that can be measured through the Intelligence Quotient, considers intelligence as a set of capacities. Gardner initially proposed a division into 7 intelligences, each covering a specific domain (logical-mathematical, verbal-linguistic, spatial-visual, musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal). He later enriched this subdivision by adding two more intelligences, naturalist and existential. In the course of his work, he has published many books, some of which are considered fundamental in the field of psychology and cognitive science, such as Forma Mentis. Frames of Mind: the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983) and The Mind’s New Science (1985).
