Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner, born on July 11, 1943 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, is a psychologist who is based at Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences. In 1981, he was awarded a MacArthur Prize Fellowship.

Multiple Intelligences
Gardner first laid out the theory of multiple intelligences (MI) in his book Frames of Mind. Gardner's claim is that pencil and paper IQ tests do not capture the full range of human intelligences, and that we all have individual profiles of strengths and weaknesses across multiple intelligence dimensions. Gardner defines intelligence as the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural settings. MI initially consisted of seven dimensions of intelligence (Visual/Spatial Intelligence, Musical Intelligence, Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence, Logical/Mathematical Intelligence, Interpersonal Intelligence, Intrapersonal Intelligence, and Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence). Since the publication of Frames of Mind, Gardner has additionally identified an 8th dimension of intelligence: Naturalist Intelligence, and is still considering a possible ninth: Existentialist Intelligence.

There is controversy as to the degree of empirical support for this theory. Without empirical tests to measure different intelligences, no one can determine whether the different dimensions of intelligences are indeed independent of general intelligence factor, or each other. While influential in educational circles, his ideas have often been overlooked within psychology, and have met particularly strong resistance from psychometricians.

Other Research Areas
A prolific writer (with over 20 books and several hundred articles, Gardner has explored the concepts of creativity and intelligences, and the parts they play in children's learning, including the major role that arts education can play in developing basic cognitive skills. He has written books on the [cognitive revolution] (The Mind's New Science) and several volumes profiling great leaders and thinkers of the 20th century (Extraordinary Minds, Creating Minds, Leading Minds).

His recent work includes Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet, on how professionals seek to balance professional and ethical concerns, and Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People's Minds, which describes a series of 'levers' that can be used to promote mind-changing.

Gardner also works in the field of social psychology. Gardner's contributions include the interpretation of scientific research into the roots of compassion, altruism, and peaceful human relationships.

Primary Works
Gardner is the author of at least 20 books, notably:
 * The Quest for Mind: Jean Piaget, Claude Levi-Strauss and the Structuralist Movement - New York: Knopf, 1973
 * The Shattered Mind - New York: Knopf, 1975
 * Artful Scribbles: The Significance of Children's Drawings - New York: Basic Books, 1980
 * Art, Mind and Brain: A Cognitive Approach to Creativity - New York: Basic Books, 1982
 * Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligence (1983) ISBN 0-465-02510-2 (1993 ed.)
 * The Mind's New Science: A History of the Cognitive Revolution - New York: Basic Books, 1985
 * To Open Minds: Chinese Clues to the Dilemma of Contemporary Education - New York: Basic Books, 1989
 * The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach (1991) ISBN 0-465-08896-1 (1993 ed.)
 * Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi (1994) ISBN 0-465-01454-2
 * Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice (1993) ISBN 0-465-01822-X (1993 ed.)
 * Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership - New York: Basic Books, 1995.
 * Extraordinary Minds: Portraits of Exceptional Individuals and an Examination of our Extraordinariness - New York: Basic Books, 1997
 * Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century - New York: Basic Books, 1999
 * The Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand - New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999
 * Multiple Intelligences After Twenty Years, 2003. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 21, 2003.
 * Five Minds for the Future - Harvard Business School Press, 2007, ISBN 978-1591399124

See below for research into validity of Gardner's theory:
 * Bennett, M. (2000). Self-estimates and population estimates of ability in men and women. Australian Journal of Psychology, 52, 23–28.