Everyone Is Intelligent and This Is Why

We will tell you the real reason for this claim right here in the first lines of this post. Everyone is an intelligent person because there are a few different types of intelligence. Surprised? We were also surprised while reading some of the latest studies made by some of the renowned psychologists. When people generally think of the most intelligent people in the world, only scientists and academics come into their mind, but there is more to it.

Can you imagine what would have happened if we sent these ‘intelligent people’ to work in a ban, without any previous knowledge of how the things work there and how they should behave? Would they seem stupid? Most probably, they would. Some of them would not even be able to address customers in a proper manner.

And now, think about how these scientists and academics would behave if they were placed to work as waiters, telemarketers, or even as common vendors? They would be completely lost. Our point here is to underline the fact that different types of intelligence are defined by different criteria.  Of course, there are those mentally challenged people, but here we are not talking about them but rather discussing people with normal development capacities.

Now, hear this – as Howard Gardner, a psychologist, once said ‘everyone is blessed with multiple types of intelligence.’ So, basically, we can all be multi-intelligent, according to him. In his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Gardner explained the nine types of intelligence. Those are generally nine capacities for abilities which make us the intelligent beings that we are today.

Let’s explore those nine different types of intelligence.

 Musical

You possess this type of intelligence if you can discern different sounds, their pitch, tone, rhythm, and timbre. Can you do it?

 Spatial

If you see the world around you in 3D, then you are spatially intelligent.

 Linguistic

This one can also be called verbal since it refers to the words you use. If you can name all the things and feelings the right way, i.e. use the different words for different feelings and things, then you are linguistically intelligent.

In other words, if you are expressing your thoughts without creating any confusion among your listeners, that’s it! A linguistically intelligent person is good at reading, writing, telling stories, and similar activities which include the usage of many different words.

 Logical-mathematical

Being able to find a logical-mathematical connection in the relations the things create among themselves means that you possess this type of intelligence. Quantifying things, making hypotheses and proving them, may be your specialty. Still, you may not be aware that you possess the logical-mathematical type of intelligence.

 Bodily-kinesthetic

Yoga is all about this type of intelligence. It refers to the coordination of the body and mind. Can you coordinate them?

 Interpersonal

Pay attention to the spelling – this one is INTERPERSONAL intelligence. It refers to being able to sense people’s feelings and motives. It is different than the next one called INTRAPERSONAL.

 Intrapersonal

Well, this one doesn’t include other people but yourself. With this intelligence, you can understand yourself, your feelings, and inner cravings.

 Naturalistic

There are people who cannot imagine their lives without their direct contact with nature. Those people are not able to live in the big cities—maybe just in small towns and of course villages. Nature is their source of energy and the meaning of life. They can understand all the living things (mostly interested in animals) and read nature.

 Existential

Existentially intelligent people are often referred to as ‘philosophers’. They deal with the questions of why we are alive and why death is something inevitable.

 Now, what we’ve learned from this?

By understanding these different types of intelligence, we should recognize our weaknesses and the ways to improve them. Now that we have realized the different aspects of the overall intelligence we possess, we can start developing those that are left undeveloped.

Since we have realized that different people have different combinations of intelligence, we can be sure that everyone is a unique person.

If you want to check your intelligent strengths, try some of the online tests to define your strongest type of intelligence. This may change the way you perceive your own intelligence.