Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence
Introduction to Psychology

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence Intelligence cannot be seen, it has no mass, and it occupies no space. Nevertheless, we feel certain that it exists (Introduction to Psychology, 2007). Psychologist Alfred Binet, who was busy creating tests to rate child intelligence, was passionate about testing and measuring human capabilities. His understanding of intelligence evolved through intense trial-and-error testing with local students. Working with groups of average students as well as mentally handicapped students, Binet discovered certain tasks that average students could handle but that handicapped students could not. He calculated the normal abilities for students at each age, and could pinpoint how many years a student's mental age was above or below the norm. Binet equated intelligence with common sense. He called intelligence "judgment…good sense…the faculty of adapting one's self to circumstances." He also believed that intelligence is a combination of many skills - skills that are shaped heavily by the environment (Intelligence and Achievement Testing: Is the Half Full Glass Getting Fuller). In 1983, Howard Gardner argued that "reason, intelligence, logic and knowledge are not synonymous...", setting forth a theory of multiple intelligences. The concept of multiple intelligences helped broaden the idea of "intelligence" from a mathematical and verbal understanding, which had become cemented into American culture through years of national testing. Unlike the established understanding of intelligence that people are born with a uniform cognitive capacity that can be easily measured by short-answer tests, multiple intelligence reconsiders our educational practice of the last century and provides an alternative. Gardner’s theory challenged traditional beliefs in the fields