Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate Howard Gardner's (1983) Multiple
Intelligences theory, which proposes that there are eight independent intelligences:
Linguistic, Spatial, Logical/Mathematical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalistic,
Bodily-Kinesthetic, and Musical. To explore Gardner's theory, two measures of each
ability area were administered to 200 participants. Each participant also completed a
measure of general cognitive ability, a personality inventory, an ability self-rating scale,
and an ability self-report questionnaire. Nonverbal measures were included for most
intelligence domains, and a wide range of content was sampled in Gardner's domains.
Results showed that all tests of purely cognitive abilities were significantly correlated
with the measure of general cognitive ability, whereas Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, and
one of the Intrapersonal measures were not. Contrary to what Multiple Intelligences
theory would seem to predict, correlations among the tests revealed a positive manifold
and factor analysis indicated a large factor of general intelligence, with a mathematical
reasoning test and a classification task from the Naturalistic domain having the highest ^-
loadings. There were only minor sex differences in performance on the ability tests.
Participants' self-estimates of ability were significantly and positively correlated with
actual performance in some, but not all, intelligences. With regard to personality, a
hypothesized association between Openness to Experience and crystallized intelligence
was supported. The implications of the findings in regards to the nature of mental
abilities were discussed, and recommendations for further research were made.
