Distinguishing Individual Profiles of Intelligence

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A Brief History of Intelligence Testing

The study of intelligence began in Paris in the late 1890s with Alfred Binet, who developed a test designed to identify children with special educational needs.

His approach of quantifying intelligence was then readily accepted in the United States and worldwide. Schools began testing children and adopting curricula that would help students improve their IQs. Getting into the right college or university is still often dependent on IQ, and on tests like the SAT (Scholastic Achievement Test) that are derived from IQ tests.

In the 1970s, Howard Gardner, a professor of education at Harvard University, started questioning the traditional definition of intelligence on which such tests were based. Gardner worked with talented children and adults who had brain damage. He found that people had many other gifts and talents that weren't necessarily reflected in the traditional ideals of intelligence. He used a variety of sources – including neurophysiological research and studies with autistic people, geniuses, and protégés – to support his model that various parts of the brain provide different types of intelligence.

In 1983, Gardner published the book "Frames of Mind," which outlined seven different types of intelligence. Ten years later, he added an eighth type. This multiple intelligences (MI) theory became a popular model for understanding the many ways in which human intelligence exists.

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