Is There The "Emotional Intelligence"?

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Are There Different Kinds of Intelligence? (3)
Is There The "Emotional Intelligence"?

A third theory that challenges the "IQ" conception of intelligence is that of "Emotional Intelligence" or "EQ", first popularised by psychologist and science journalist Daniel Goleman's 1995 bestseller "Emotional Intelligence: Why It can Matter More than IQ". Goleman argues that a person's emotions play a significant role in thought, making decisions and future success. He defines this form of intelligence as a set of skills that include impulse control, self-motivations, empathy and the ability to relate well to others.



Self-awareness, Goleman argues is the key to being truly emotionally intelligent, because it allow the person to exercise self-control. With sufficient self-awareness, it is possible to develop various coping mechanisms that allow a person to move from a negative emotional state to a more positive one: counting to ten as means of letting the sensation of sudden anger subside, for example.




As with Garner's theory of multiple intelligences, Goleman's EQ concept has been adopted by various schools in the United States, which use it to develop "emotional literacy" programmes, aimed at helping students learn to manage their anger, frustrations and loneliness. Children who are angry or depressed are capable of learning well, and those with long-running emotional difficulties are liable to drop out altogether. Improving the students' self-esteem and self-motivations helps them to perform better in exams.



Like IQ, each of these alternative conceptions of intelligence has been criticised. Critics of the "multiple intelligences" theory, for example, point to lack of empirical evidence supporting it.



Critics of EQ concept argue that it measures conformity rather that ability: who after all is to say when a person's anger or sadness (or other emotion) is or is not appropriate to a particular situations? EQ's sceptics also point out that scientific studies have failed to find a convincing link between high self-esteem an better academic performance.



While mindful of such criticisms, I believe there is considerable value in considering human intelligence in ways that allow us to appreciate the enormous diversity in how people think and behave.

"EMBRACING THE WIDE SKY", A Tour Across The Horizons of The Human Mind, Daniel Tammet, 2009, pages 51 - 52

Are There "Multiple Intelligences"?

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Are There Different Kinds of Intelligence? (2)
Are There "Multiple Intelligences"?

Like Sternberg, Howard Gardner, a professor of education at Harvard University, believes that there is more than one kind of intelligence - eight, to precise - with every person having a unique blend of each. His theory of "Multiple Intelligences" was made famous by his book "Frames of Mind" first published in 1983. Using a range of criteria, including development history, evolutionary plausibility and support from experimental psychology tasks, Gardner identified these eight different intelligences:



Linguistic Intelligence: Involving both spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages and the capacity to use language to achieve certain goals. Examples: writers, poets, lawyers and speakers.




Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: The capacity to analyse problems, perform mathematical operations and investigate issues scientifically. Examples: scientists, engineers and mathematicians.



Musical Intelligence: Skill in the performance, composition and appreciation of musical patterns. Musicians of all kinds are obvious examples of this intelligence.



Body–Kinaesthetic Intelligence: Using parts of the whole of one’s body to solve problems. Examples: athletes, actors and dancers.



Spatial Intelligence: Includes having a very good sense of direction, as well as the ability to visualize and mentally manipulate objects. Examples: artists, architects and engineers.



Interpersonal Intelligence: The capacity to understand the feelings, intentions and motivations of the other people. Examples: sales-people, politicians and therapists.



Intrapersonal Intelligence: The ability to understand oneself, one's feelings, goals and motivation: Examples: philosophers, psychologists, and theologians.



Naturalistic Intelligence: The ability to draw upon certain features of the environment, to grow and nurture new things and to have a facility for interacting with animals: examples: farmer, gardeners and conservationists.

Many educators in the United States who have adopted Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences to use in their schools report improved exams results, parental participations and classroom discipline.

A Harvard-led study of forty-one schools supported using the theory, and reported that in these schools there was "a culture of hard work, respect and caring; a faculty that collaborated and learned from each other; classrooms that engaged students through constrained but meaningful choices, and a sharp focus on enabling students to produce high-quality work".

"EMBRACING THE WIDE SKY", A Tour Across The Horizons of The Human Mind, Daniel Tammet, 2009, page 50

The Intelligence Consists Of Three Main Aspects?

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Are There Different Kinds of Intelligence? (1)
The Intelligence Consists Of Three Main Aspects?

Clearly, something more than a single test score is needed to guide our evaluation of person's intelligence. I believe it makes more sense to consider intelligence as a complex phenomenon that is best described as a synthesis of various skills and abilities.

In this way a person can be considered intelligent in some respects and less so in others. For example how would you evaluate the intelligence of the following individuals?

• A Nobel Prize winner who regularly forgets where he puts his car keys.
• A thrice-divorced chess champion.
• A company chief executive with history of stress-related heart problems.
• A doctor who smokes and drink heavily.
• A brilliant musical composer plagued by creditors.

In view of such contradictions, various theorists have sought to broaden the traditional understanding of intelligence.

"The Three Main Aspects of Intelligence"

In the 1980s Yale psychologist Robert Sternberg proposed the "triarchic" (three-part) theory of intelligence, which states that intelligence consists of three main aspects:

• “Analytic Intelligence”: The ability to analyse, evaluate and compare.
• “Creative Intelligence ”: Skill in using past experience to achieve insight and deal with situations.
• “Practical Intelligence ”: The ability to adapt to, select and shape the real-world environment,

Successfully intelligent people, according to Sternberg, are those who are aware of their particular strengths and weaknesses and develop further their abilities in order to achieve success in the future.

"EMBRACING THE WIDE SKY", A Tour across the Horizons of The Human Mind, Daniel Tammet, 2009, page 49