Howard Gardner identified seven original forms of intelligence, adding an eighth in the 1990s and considering a ninth. Robert Sternberg asserted that practical intelligence is important for dealing with everyday life contexts. Daniel Goleman argued that emotional intelligence, involving self and social awareness, is equally or more important than IQ. Culture influences intelligence through factors like positionality, privilege, context and power. No culture can be exclusive and still thrive.

1. The nature of
intelligence
As it relates to adult development and
learning

2. Multiple Intelligences
• Howard Gardner, of Harvard University
• Identified Seven Forms of Intelligences
• Added an Eighth in the Mid-1990s
• Considering a Ninth
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

3. Multiple Intelligences
Seven Original Intelligences Include:
1. Linguistic
2. Logical-Mathematical
3. Musical
4. Spatial
5. Bodily-Kinesthetic
6. Interpersonal
7. Interpersonal
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

4. Multiple Intelligences
• Added in Mid-1990s:
8. Naturalist
• Being Considered:
9. Existential
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

5. Practical Intelligence
• Robert Sternberg
• Asserted that “the problems faced in everyday life often
have little relationship to the knowledge and skills
acquired through formal education or the abilities used
in classroom activities”
• Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
• Consists of Three Components of Intelligence
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

6. Practical Intelligence
Three Components of Intelligence:
1. Analytical
• Comparable to “General Intelligence”
• What is Typically Measured by IQ Tests
2. Creative
• Ability to Think “Out of the Box” (Creatively)
3. Practical
• How We Deal With Everyday Experience in Real-World Contexts
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

7. Emotional Intelligence
• Daniel Goleman
• Published Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ
• Argued that success in life is equally, if not more
dependent, on how well one understands and employs
emotions than the more academic aspects of IQ
• Comparable to Sternberg's interpersonal and
intrapersonal intelligences and consists of five domains
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

8. Emotional Intelligence
Five Domains:
1. Knowing One’s Emotions
2. Managing Emotions
3. Motivating Oneself
4. Recognizing Emotions in Others
5. Handling Relationships
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

9. Culture Influences
• Culture is “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that was learned
by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and
internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered
valued and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct
way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those
problems” (Schein, 2004, p. 17)
• Culture deeply influences nations, ethnic groups, geographical
regions, organizations, social groups, neighborhoods, and classrooms
• Culture can be examined from several perspectives in adult
education including positionality, privilege, context, and power
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

10. Culture Influences
Positionality
• A visible or invisible attribute such as ableness, age, class, culture,
gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, language, and so forth
• Unique for each person and is derived from and influences life
experiences and relationships with others
• Each of us has intersecting “positions” that combine in unique
ways to shape how we both experience the world, and how the
world experiences us
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

11. Culture Influences
Privilege
• Unearned power based on race, gender, class, or another
positionality
• Something carried by certain people, often without awareness
• Oppression is the marginalization of a nondominant person or
group by the privileged group
• Within every culture you will find the dynamics of privilege and
oppression between social groups
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

12. Culture Influences
Context
• The social system that shapes the thought and action
of people within a particular setting such as a
classroom, school, organization, community, or nation
• When two or more people engage within a social
context, dynamics between their cultures,
positionalities, and privileges result in power relations
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

13. Culture Influences
Power
• The ability to influence others or to bring about change
• The exercise of power happens through relationships, such
as those among students or between the students and
teacher
• All individuals have some degree of power, although it may
be equal or unequal, stable, shifting, or changing,
depending on the context and their privilege
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

14. Culture Influences
As Mahatma Gandhi observed,
“No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive”
(Merriam & Bierema, 2014)

15. References
Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2014). Adult
Learning: Linking Theory and Practice . San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.