Practical Intelligence

Why IQ Isn’t Enough

Time was when “intelligence” meant IQ, that mysterious, general intelligence factor “g,” beloved by psychometricians. A lucky few were born with lots of it, others had little of it and most people desperately wanted more of it – whatever, exactly, it was.

Then along came Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner. Feeling that human capability couldn’t be reduced to a single metric, Gardner posited “multiple intelligences,” a notion he popularized in his 1983 book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Gardner identified seven “intelligences” and gestured at an eighth. Other thinkers have come up with more. But rather than getting carried away (“I have knitting intelligence!”), simply think of people as having six intelligences:

• Abstract intelligence (symbolic reasoning, as found in math and logic).
• Social intelligence (people skills).
• Emotional intelligence (managing your emotions).
• Aesthetic intelligence (design sense in various arts).
• Kinesthetic intelligence (spatial and bodily skills, such as the abilities needed for ballet or flying an airplane).
• Practical intelligence.