Have you ever wondered if you were intelligent?
If you’re like me, you will agree that people are versatile, which means, you may not be good at some things, but you certainly are at others.
As such, I always thought that intelligence is boxed in, and should be given a statistically approved name, called an IQ score.
However, people are not boxes, and statistics will not really reflect true intellectual. Nature is unpredictable and so it humankind. We like to push boundaries, are able to adopt new concepts on an everyday basis, so a number can’t predict nothing.
So I have been wondering about questions like the following:
What am I naturally gravitatiting towards? How is it that I’m good at music, but not at maths? How can I be empathetic and analytical? Does our preferred affinities provide us with answers as to the types of intelligence that we have?
Apparently so. Howard Gardner established 9 types of intelligence in 1983, of which one person can have several. They are all based on the affinities or natural interests that a person have.
They are as follows:
- Naturalist Intelligence
- Musical Intelligence
- Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
- Existential Intelligence
- Interpersonal Intelligence
- Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
- Linguistic Intelligence
- Interpersonal Intelligence
- Visual-Spatial Intelligence
It is suffice to say, that most people have an interest in some things over others. Gardner’s theory have been criticised in the community of cognitive psychology as too broad to define anyone.
I think that it makes way more sense than an odd number. And it supports the idea of the wide-spread personality trait indicator established by Myers-Briggs (16 personality types – I’m an INFP).
So you might as well let yourself out of the matchbox and forget the last time you sucked at math.
We’re all Shrek in one way or another after all. Layered like an onion.
Bottom line is, no one can really define you but yourself. With plenty of room to grow as always.
For more information on the 9 types of Intelligence, have a look at the video above or read the articles from SimplyPsychology or from VeryWell Mind.
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Don’t forget to like my post and comment below. Would love to know your thoughts about this.
Until the next time, may we all have satisfying conversations.
Love,
at Curiosity Corner Dublin