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person1970s-present

Howard Gardner

Disciplines:
psychology
cognitive science

Summary

American developmental psychologist who proposed the theory of multiple intelligences — that intelligence is not a single general faculty but a set of distinct capacities (linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal).

Core Contribution

Frames of Mind (1983): multiple intelligences — challenging the g-factor view of intelligence and arguing that IQ tests measure only a narrow linguistic-logical ability. The theory has been enormously influential in education despite limited empirical validation.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Multiple intelligences theory is widely used by educators and widely criticized by psychologists — most intelligence researchers regard it as empirically unsupported and essentially a list of talents rather than a theory of intelligence.

Notable Works & Achievements

Frames of Mind

The Mind's New Science

Creating Minds

Historical Influences

Jean Piaget Jerome Bruner

Intellectual Lineage

Developmental Psychology Cognitive Science

Contemporaries & Peers

Jerome Bruner Daniel Kahneman

Minds Influenced

Education PracticeLearning Theory

Intellectual Posterity

Multiple Intelligences Theory Education Reform

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