The second type of smart is logical-mathematical, or the intelligence of numbers and logic. It is the intelligence of the scientist, accountant, and computer programmer. Traits of people who have this type of intelligence include the ability the reason, sequence, think in terms of cause-and-effect, create hypotheses, look for conceptual regularities or numerical patterns, and enjoy a generally rational outlook on life.
Spatial Intelligence
• Likes to: draw, build, design and create things, daydream, look at pictures/slides, watch movies and play with machines.
• Is good at: imagining things, sensing changes, mazes/puzzles and reading maps, charts.
• Learns best by: visualising, dreaming, using the mind's eye and working with colours/pictures.
Spatial intelligence, which involves thinking in pictures and images and the ability to perceive, transform, and re-create different aspects of the visual-spatial world, is the intelligence of the playground architects, photographers, and artists. Individuals with this type
of intelligence often have acute sensitivity to visual details and can visualise vividly, draw their ideas graphically, and orient themselves in 3-dimensional space with ease.
Musical Intelligence
• Likes to: sing, hum tunes, listen to music, play an instrument and respond to music.
• Is good at: picking up sounds, remembering melodies, noticing pitches/rhythms and keeping time.
• Learns best by: rhythm, melody and music.
Those who have the capacity to perceive, appreciate, and produce rhythms and melodies possess Musical intelligence, the fourth type of smart. This intelligence also resides in musicians and the mind of any individual, who has a good ear, can sing in tune, keep time to music, and listen to different selections with some degree of discernment.
Bodily/Kinaesthetic Intelligence
• Likes to: move around, touch and talk and use body language.
• Is good at: physical activities (sports/dance/acting) and crafts.
• Learns best by: touching, moving, interacting with space and processing knowledge through bodily sensations.
The fifth is bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence, which is the intelligence of the physical self. It includes talent in controlling one’s body movements and handling objects skilfully. Athletes, mechanics, and surgeons often possess it. Individuals with this type of intelligence often are skilled at sewing, carpentry, or model building, or may enjoy physical pursuits like hiking or jogging. Many are hands-on people with good tactile sensitivity who move their bodies frequently and get gut reactions to things.
Interpersonal Intelligence
• Likes to: have lots of friends, talk to people and join groups.
• Is good at: understanding people, leading others, organising, communicating, manipulating and mediating conflicts.
• Learns best by: sharing, comparing, relating, cooperating and interviewing.
Next is interpersonal intelligence, which includes the ability to understand and work with other people. It requires a capacity to perceive and be responsive to the moods and desires of other peoples. An interpersonally intelligent person may be compassionate and socially responsible or manipulative and cunning, but they all have the ability to get inside skin of another person and view world from that individual’s perspective.
Intrapersonal Intelligence
• Likes to: work alone and pursue own interests.
• Is good at: understanding self, focusing inward on feelings/dreams, following instincts, pursuing interests/goals and being original.
• Learns best by: working alone, individualised projects, and having own space.
Finally there is intrapersonal intelligence, or the intelligence of the inner self. People strong in this kind of smart easily access their own feelings, discriminate between kinds of inner emotional states, and use self-understanding to enrich and guide their lives. Most are independent people who either are very introspective and enjoy forms of deep soul-searching, or are fiercely independent, highly goal-directed, and intensely self-disciplined.
Despite of these different categories there are no clear lines to what is dividing them apart, a human being is often the strongest in several areas, not just one. Think of your upbringing,
what if you are really good at interpersonal and linguistic activities, does this come from the environment you grew up in or has your genes something to do with it. What if you, instead of growing up in a stimulating and loving family (remember, this is just an hypothetical case, not taken seriously) grew up alone with just a single person that is not very interested in your existence. What would happen? Would you still be good at using the language (keep in mind: only one person to talk to) and would your social skills be the same? Perhaps your talents would be different, they might change depending on the environment that surrounds you, or would they stay the same, because there is written in your genes that you would be good at those particular aspects of intelligence? This is what the nature-nuture debate is all about. What creates intelligence, the environment (nature) or the hereditary factors (nuture)
Nature versus Nuture
When a child is born it is likely that it will grow up to resemble it parents, not only physically but also mentally. Is this due to the environment, growing up with and wanting to resemble its parents, or is it the genes that create the individual. This cannot be decides because the two, nature and nuture are closely intertwined to each other. It is impossible to say if the intelligence comes from your genes or from the environment. A common view is that intelligence in humans is directly related to genetics. Smart parents will have smart kids, and parents who did not graduate from school will have kids who also wont make it through. While this generalisation often holds true, it is known that there are many factors that ultimately shape one's mind.
In today's society, there are many qualities that are considered indications of intelligence, usually ability in writing and speaking or proficiency in science and mathematics. When these traits are found in parents, they can usually also be found in children. However, this must be primarily due to economic or social factors. Intelligent people will usually make their way into a successful career, and with that will come wealth and affluence. As a result, they can afford to bring extensive education to their children. This could mean expensive private schools and universities, or it could be something subtler, such as living in a higher-class neighbourhood with access to good public education. The parents are also likely to take an active role in encouraging their offspring to maintain their academic performance. Either way, early education is probably most important in determining final intelligence, since the brain is believed to respond to thought-inductive stimuli with increased growth as it develops.
In addition, people with aptitude in science and math (usually the most highly-regarded signs of intelligence) tend to exhibit social attitudes and characteristics that probably affected their outcome. Many are extremely shy, have physical or mental disorders, are unattractive, are particularly unathletic, or have other qualities that would have otherwise made them social outcasts early in life. With fewer friends or social obligations to attend to, they had more free time to spend on their schoolwork, or for reading, or for other activities prone to intellectual development. In addition, once their intelligence was recognised, it potentially provided an aspect of them to emphasise, to offset their poor social status. If they had already given up trying to be like everyone else, they could instead build a personality based on intellectual superiority. There is a link between different intellectual skills and inter, intrapersonal intelligence. Those children who display logical/mathematical intelligence for example often are not great with other children; their social skills are not as developed as their logical thinking.
Genetic inheritance on the other hand has got a role in the development of intelligence. Take the extreme example of a pair of MZ twins being separated at birth and
raised in different homes (homes of different social/economic classes). Child one is reared in a middle-class family and, when reached an appropriate age, put in one of the finest schools in the country. Child two is brought up to be a labourer, has no formal education. Will their intelligence levels be any different or is it going to be a significant difference? Real live studies have been made in this was, but the answers had not been conclusive. There was a degree of doubt if the twins knew each other and did not admit it to the researchers or if they had spent some time together when small, thus sharing some experiences that can affect their intelligence levels.
Conclusion
Although there is a fierce debate going on to decide the factors that influence intelligence quotients there is still a lot of uncertain aspects. What if both nature and nuture plays a role in the amount of intelligence held? Thus, objective views on the situation now hold both environmental and genetic characteristics as affecting the intelligence of a child. I believe this is a correct assumption. No child can escape the fate of what it genes present to it, but it can also be influenced to its surroundings. I cannot imagine there is a sole factor having the leading role in the decision of intelligence. But the one thing I can’t understand is why intelligence is so important. Is there something prestigious to be extremely intelligent?
Bibliography
McCall, R.B. (1973). Intelligence and heredity. Homewood, Illinois: Learning Systems Co.
Vernon, P.E. (1979). Intelligence: Heredity and environment. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.
Stuart-Hamilton, Ian. (1999). Key Ideas in Psychology. Great Britain, Gateshead: tyne&wear
Deary, Ian J. (2001). Intelligence, a very short introduction. Spain: Book Print S. L.
MZ, or monozygotic twins have the same genetic inheritance. Often referred to as “identical twins”
