A Succinct Theory of Intelligence

Space Warlock

Martin White

Psychological Research Thesis

Introduction
 The human race, without reprehension, can be said to be the most capable species on the

planet. The human race has accomplished, are accomplishing, and will accomplish incredibly

magnanimous feats. They have built skyscrapers, eradicated diseases, and created renewable energy

sources, to name a few. There are numerous reasons that can lay claim for the reason of such feats.

However, it can be posited that the most important reason is due to unfathomable intelligence.

The most important reason, serves as the motive for the research project. This project was

initially spurred due to the study into a technique known as the Memory Palace Technique.

Practitioners of this technique, that utilizes the spatial memory centralized in the hippocampus

region, were shown to be able to access long-term memory quicker and easier. The utilization of this

technique has lead to humans being capable of memorizing decks of cards in under sixty seconds, a

man reciting pi (3.14) to the 80,000th place, and even has been utilized in medical schools.

The main question was how to best utilize this technique; which led to this research. So at

first, this study was to test the credibility of the Nine different intelligences, the impact, and the

strengths and weaknesses of each category. Then it led to, which intelligence can best utilize this

technique and why?

So to answer that question, some questions must be answered first. Namely do different

intelligences exist and can be they discerned, if the first question can be verified. From the
research and results, the answer is yes. Each individual has their special intelligence, but it can be

taken a step further. The assertion can be made (from the research) that closely related intelligences

can be utilized but not to the fullest extent. The exploration of this assertion can be seen widely from

notable animes like Hunter X Hunter, to the ancient Asian culture in which water divination types

dictated a persons personality in lieu of intelligence, and even movies like the trilogy Divergent.

Each exploring it in their own ways.

Now these are not being used to lend credibility to the hypothesis, only to give credit to

peoples work and to improve upon their ideas using research. In all of the research that has been

done beforehand, they have agreed on one common factor in which has caused the most trouble in

this research. That each of these different intelligences have the capability, to some degree, interact

with other intelligences within them. This makes discerning them difficult, because some

intelligences can work cohesively to create new personality traits similar to that of other

intelligences, giving false positives.

Lastly, due to the nature of this research project there are great many things that are not

allowed to be mentioned specifically because of the extremely strict contract rules. So the students

names and information, the companys name, the companys style of teaching, and information

about co-workers have been left out. However, due to the freedom of the position, the parts in which

have been personally changed to the teaching style and the changes to the lesson plans can be
explained. In the future, the next two thesises will be on the impact of these intelligences on the

Memory Palace and then all encompassing lesson plan in which caters to all of these intelligences.

This thesis is mainly focused on the existence of the intelligences, discerning the intelligences, and

giving credence to past work performed.

History:

To begin to understand the different intelligences, there are things that must
first understood. Where the idea came from, how it evolved, and where it is now. This is

important because then trends can be tracked and, in fact, find things in which are

disagreed upon to find mistakes within both research.

The start of the theory began with Charles Edward Spearman in 1923. In his

paper The Nature of Intelligence and the Principles of Cognition, Spearman notes

his findings of The G factor. However, it wasnt until 1938 when Louis L. Thurstone

criticized these theories in place of his own version on intelligence. These are namely:

numerical, reasoning, spatial, perceptual, memory, verbal fluency, and verbal

comprehension. This work would later be expanded on by Raymond B. Cattel in 1963,

in which he posits that there are an extra two types of intelligence, namely: fluid and

crystallized intelligence.

The complete theory itself took root in the book Frames of Mind: The Theory

of Multiple Intelligences written by Howard Gardner in 1983. In his book, he puts

forth eight different criteria for in which must be fulfilled for each of these intelligences

to have its own separate group. The criteria were: potential for brain isolation by brain

damage, presence of core operations, place in evolutionary history, symbolic expression,

a distinct developmental progression, the existence of savants, prodigies and other

exceptional people, and support from experimental psychology

and psychometric findings. Gardner then breaks down the categories in eight different

types, of which have their strengths and their weaknesses (according to him). These

different groups are: Rhythmic, Visual, Verbal, Logical, Bodily (Kinesthetic),

Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalistic, and Existential.

In his 2006 study, Garner remarks the fact that each of these different

intelligences have a certain G factor. This factor determines the level to which a

person of that intelligence would be able thrive in certain environments versus other

environments. So, visual learners will learn best in a visual setting and learning style

versus bodily that learn from gesture based lessons.

However, in all experiments, the null hypothesis must be acknowledged. In

which, fortunately, was published in a study by Linda Gottfredson in 2006. Her main

argument was that there was an overwhelming support of evidence for the Intelligence

Quotient, better know as IQ, versus the other side in which the G-factor reason has

less empirical evidence.

There are many problems with this mindset. Namely, this presupposes that the

lack of evidence is evidence of no evidence. As well as, pushes the notion that if more

evidence is published in favor of something, then therefore it must be correct. Now,

there is no doubt that most scientific findings are collected diligently, however when it
comes to psychology there is a subjective nature to it. Studies can be performed and

experiments of a million people, but it only be applicable to those million versus the

other 6.99 billion participants on planet earth.

Later down the line, Gardner then adds the ninth and final type of intelligence.

Gardner would finally add Linguistic intelligence to complete the set. However this is

not to say that this is final. Gardner believes that there are other intelligences, i.e. Moral

intelligence, but for the sake of this research only the nine previously mentioned

intelligences were explored.

Ultimately, the main competitors against this theory are the aforementioned IQ

theory and in rare case, the savant syndrome. This syndrome was used to denote the fact

that some people, irrelevant of their intelligence, can undergo changes in which allows

them to do magnificent feats. This was most notably noted in two cases. The first case

was in the movie Rain Man, in which a mentally impaired person had the hyper-

numerical ability in which he could recollect numbers without effort. The second is in

the case of S, in which he suffered/blessed with Synesthesia. This condition allowed

him to to perceive reality differently than most people do. A side effect of this, was that

he was able to recollect everything due to the fact that it immediately registered into his

spatial memory. Some people have been noted to seeing music and tasting color.
 While it is believed, or rather it is assumed, that intelligences (under extreme

circumstances) can be changed, they will be withheld from this research because of the

nature of how it is changed. In many cases, it is often dangerous and come from intense

trauma. Other cases can be stimulated from genetic or hereditary diseases that manifest

themselves after a certain period of time. Due to the nature of it, and it being in very

rare cases, they will be denoted as outliers for the time being.

Lastly, even though there are countless other papers and research studies that

were used, these were the most influential to the study performed. So throughout the

assessment, the other studies will be shown, but very minimally. This is mostly because

they are either repeating the same information without supplying new information, or

does not have credible experimentation.

Methods:

To reiterate, a lot of the methods that were used to prove the existence of the

different intelligences were limited due to contract, however what can be mentioned are

what was added to the original lesson plans that allowed the testing for the validity of
the theory as well as, discern between the different intelligences.

Lastly, there were a lot of different environmental factors that were taken into

account as to get the most objective results as possible. Such factors were: human error

when taking the tests, different intelligences acting a certain way due to (you dont need

this) peer or societal pressure, resulted from just having a better teacher (teacher

efficacy) (ruled out due to the control (just say it was controlled for) and will be

explained later but still can be effecting the study (it is called a caveat and these are

usually discussed in discussion/conclusion and not the methods)), location and culture

differences. As well as, students opting out of taking the tests (because they were not

mandatory), having older students who were not given tests, and new students coming

so they were only able to take the second test (are these really environmental factors

that influence your results?). All in all, about twenty five students took both tests and

roughly forty seven students took at least one. (you still havent described the tests)

These are some of the main reasons that doubt can be casted on the study.

Which is understandable, (you dont need this) by no means are the complexities of the

machinery that is a human (I assume you mean human mind) easily explainable by this

method. However, that is not to say that the machinery does not have certain noticeable

trends that can be categorized while they exist (just say your model fits well with the
data).

Firstly, for many reasons, this was a blind experiment. The students, the

company, the parents, and other teachers were not included in this experiment. It was

preferred that their actions were genuine and not for the sake of the experiment (just say

that it eliminates bias). (are you sure its okay to publish data without consent from the

company, parents, or students?) As with the case for all blind experiments, the wanted

result is to be as objective and as close to reality as possible.

To calculate the grades, the students were first broken down into their

respective age ranges (list the age ranges). From this point on, (get rid of this part) the

students grades were added together and divide by the number of students, this would

give an average test score (just say you took the average of the students scores). This

was done to get a general sense of the entire group, and to protect the students personal

information (get rid of this part). The scores for the monthly memory checks were also

done in this manner, for the same reasons. The monthly checks were graded out of a

10/10 basis (just say they were scored on a scale of 1 to 10). So, naturally, 9/10 would

leave a score of 9 and 10/10 would leave a score of 10 on the charts. (get rid) (your

describing all this but I still know nothing about what the test is)

The integral statement is while they exist, this is because much like fads,
society tends to change what they put pressure on. As mentioned previously, older Asian

cultures used water divination, while more contemporary means are done by blood type.

This is important because a society can impress their notions of what they believe a

certain blood-type, intelligence, or divination to be and forces the change to occur. This

is what is deemed as Societal Self-Fullfilling Prophecy, because when people hear

about certain things, they tend to notice similarities and then jump to the conclusion that

it must be real. This can be seen with astrological signs and more recently, Facebook

Quizzes. (this paragraph probably isnt needed in the methods, maybe in conclusion/

discussion)

This preys on the deepest need for a sense of identity and then gives us shallow

forms of what humans can be. Much like a hypochondriac, once the person reads

something online they tend to believe it and increase the chances of it becoming true.

For example, searching the symptoms of a common cold online, will lead people to

believe they have an even worse ailment because a lot of the symptoms are the same.

Simply put correlation does not imply causation. (you dont need this paragraph in the

methods)

With that taken into account the methods were rather simple. The Cycle

Method was heavily utilized for these experiments. The method is just siding the
intelligences together, with a 1:1 relationship (what does this mean?). So, the students

thought to be audio learners, were taught using audio means. The students thought to be

visual learners were taught using visual stimuli. (how did you determine who was an

audio learner or visual learner? What about other learner types?) After the baseline was

taken, then intelligences were shifted downward, which will be best demonstrated in the

figures below. (find a better way to describe this)

For the first month, the students were taught exactly as denoted previously.

This was done to serve as the control group. The teacher beforehand used the same

methods, however his personality was what was a major factor. (get rid) After this

month, it sets the baseline for the students capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses.

Within this month, the students were given time to acclimate (just say the

initial month served as an acclimation period). This was especially important because

students undergo the Golden Student syndrome. In which, for the first three weeks or

so, the student will demonstrate the best versions of themselves because they do not

know the new teacher. They are afraid that they cant be themselves around a relatively

new individual, and would rather not risk the rejection. In this stage, the students

baseline results will be the best because they want to impress. However, if not careful
this is the stage in which the student tests their boundaries. This can lead to extremely

different results if the students are left unchecked. (things like this arent usually

explained in methods, methods is usually cold and methodical and direct, it usually

doesnt explain a lot)

After the first month was over, the students were tested. So students with each

assumed intelligence were tested (say students were tested under the paradigm of their

assumed intelligence) . So, after getting some information directly from the parents and

the previous teachers, psychological profiles of each of the seventy students were made

(just say psychological profiles for each student was made using information from

parents and teachers). In these profiles, intelligences were discerned by the information

given and behavior demonstrated in the classroom. (what criterion of information

allowed you to discern the type of intelligence)

The second month was the most important, this was because now that there is a

baseline for each of the different intelligences and the students, then different elements

can be added into the lesson, while maintaining the same lesson structure/style. So for

each student, they would be given different tasks based upon their assumed intelligence.

So, the first student would have to play a game of Telephone in which a message is
passed from one student to another. Another student would have to look at pictures of

the subject matter. This would repeat until all of the intelligences were completely

tested.

This month was specifically important because not only was the efficacy of the

lessons able to be tested, but their memories in which they formed from the past teacher

because they have a test. Previously, information gathered from the parents, teachers,

the entire staff, and the students themselves that their they always failed their tests

(these are withheld because of lack of proper storage). So this would not only give

credibility to the teaching style, it would also give a better scope of where they were

previously.

After the test results came back, the students grades had immensely improved

(the students grades individually cant be shown, however utilized within the contexts

of averages and groups are allowed). In all sections in which they were tested, the

students notably were able to perform better. In fact, during the test when a student

couldnt remember something, clues and hints that were specific to their intelligence

and they would immediately remember. So, if a student was a kinesthetic learner,

gestures would be done in order to bring forth the formed memory.

For the third month, after the baseline for each of the students was set this was
set as another control group for next experiment. So, this served as another baseline to

be able to tell whether or not it was due to improved teaching or was it due to

addressing each of the actual intelligences. This tends to fluctuate. The method ebbs and

flows from these control group because characteristics manifests themselves in many

different ways, so they must be introduced to many different stimulus in order to cross

reference their actions versus previous actions.

For the fourth month, the stimuli was switched. Meaning, the input for each of

the intelligences was changed. So, the rhythmic learners would experience visual

stimuli while the visual learners would experience kinestethic. While, it is understood

that a lot of methods would overlap with intelligences, because kinesethic and visual are

closely related, there is an ebb and flow to discern which is which. Then after, the

students were tested for their memories forged from the third month then going into the

fourth month.

In the fifth month, the pattern was then kept from the fourth month to create

another control group. So any other unforeseen circumstances can be ruled out as

playing a part in the reasons as to why different information was gathered. So the

continuation of each mixed stimuli was continued.

In the sixth month, the pattern was then switched again. So, for example, the
rhythmic learners would be given stimuli for interpersonal and interpersonal learners

would be given stimuli intended for intrapersonal learners. Then at the end of the

month, memory checks were performed on which words were better remembered.

In the seventh month, the pattern was kept the same from the sixth month. This

was get another baseline. Around this time, each of the characteristics were starting to

become more distinct. This is important because the more the stimuli is changed, the

more that can be ruled out.

In the eight month, the pattern was changed again. So, the visual learners

would be given linguistic stimuli and the linguistic would be given rhythmic stimuli.

Note, these are merely examples of what was done, there will be a chart denoting each

after each month at the end.

In the ninth month, the pattern was maintained in order to get a baseline. At the

end of the month, memory checks were performed to test the difference between each of

the memories forged.

In the tenth month, however, the pattern was changed to the pattern in which

yielded the greatest results because this was when the second test was finally here. This

gives a better look at how the students were responding to each of the tests. If they

didnt learn somethings, it would be objectively apparent as to which were not learned.

After the test results came back, the ebb and flow pattern were not repeated for
the final two months of the experiment. However, the experiment lasted fifteen months,

but once the proper pattern was discerned and after it was believed that their

intelligences were properly assessed, they were taught to their strengths. This allows the

students to thrive the best in their environment without feeling overloaded.

Lastly, the charts were then laid over each other to get a much better picture of

what was sought after; evidence of the different intelligences, if they can intermingle,

and how they impact learning. If there was no direct correlation in between the

teachings and the actual intelligences, then it would become immediately apparent.

Also, if there was no correlation that gave note of the intelligences intermingling, that

would also become immediately apparent from the psychological evaluations, how they

performed on the exams, and lastly the many weekly and monthly memory checks.

The first figures denote the the monthly changes that occurred and how

each of the students performed. As per the reason previously mentioned, the

first month was used as a control group using the already conceived lesson

plan, so it begins with the second month in which the first baseline was taken.

Intelligence Lesson Test: Month #2

Bodily Bodily Bodily
Existential Existential Existential
Interpersonal Interpersonal Interpersonal
Intrapersonal Intrapersonal Intrapersonal
Linguistic Linguistic Linguistic
Logical Logical Logical
Naturalistic Naturalistic Naturalistic
Rhythmic Rhythmic Rhythmic
Visual Visual Visual
Figure 1.1- The first experimental group testing them for their assumed intelligences.

Intelligence Lesson Test Month#3

Bodily Bodily Bodily
Existential Existential Existential
Interpersonal Interpersonal Interpersonal
Intrapersonal Intrapersonal Intrapersonal
Linguistic Linguistic Linguistic
Logical Logical Logical
Naturalistic Naturalistic Naturalistic
Rhythmic Rhythmic Rhythmic
Visual Visual Visual
Figure 1.2- As previously mentioned, the third month was use as a baseline for the
second month and testing.

Intelligence Lesson Month #4

Bodily Visual Visual
Existential Bodily Bodily
Interpersonal Existential Existential
Intrapersonal Interpersonal Interpersonal
Linguistic Intrapersonal Intrapersonal
Logical Linguistic Linguistic
Naturalistic Logical Logical
Rhythmic Naturalistic Naturalistic
Visual Rhythmic Rhythmic
Figure 1.3- Utilizing the cycling method, each of the intelligences were shifted down
by a row and tested.

Intelligence Lesson Month #5

Bodily Visual Visual
Existential Bodily Bodily
Interpersonal Existential Existential
Intrapersonal Interpersonal Interpersonal
Linguistic Intrapersonal Intrapersonal
Logical Linguistic Linguistic
Naturalistic Logical Logical
Rhythmic Naturalistic Naturalistic
Visual Rhythmic Rhythmic
Figure 1.4- This served as the baseline for the next experiment.

Intelligence Lesson Month #6

Bodily Rhythmic Rhythmic
Existential Visual Visual
Interpersonal Bodily Bodily
Intrapersonal Existential Existential
Linguistic Interpersonal Interpersonal
Logical Intrapersonal Intrapersonal
Naturalistic Linguistic Linguistic
Rhythmic Logical Logical
Visual Naturalistic Naturalistic
Figure 1.5- The cycle method was used to shift the intelligences down another row.

Intelligence Lesson Month#7

Bodily Rhythmic Rhythmic
Existential Visual Visual
Interpersonal Bodily Bodily
Intrapersonal Existential Existential
Linguistic Interpersonal Interpersonal
Logical Intrapersonal Intrapersonal
Naturalistic Linguistic Linguistic
Rhythmic Logical Logical
Visual Naturalistic Naturalistic
Figure 1.6- This month serves as a baseline for the next experiment.

Intelligence Lesson Month #8

Bodily Naturalistic Naturalistic
Existential Rhythmic Rhythmic
Interpersonal Visual Visual
Intrapersonal Bodily Bodily
Linguistic Existential Existential
Logical Interpersonal Interpersonal
Naturalistic Intrapersonal Intrapersonal
Rhythmic Linguistic Linguistic
Visual Logical Logical
Figure 1.7- The cells were shifted down using the cycle method.

Intelligence Lesson Month #9

Bodily Naturalistic Naturalistic
Existential Rhythmic Rhythmic
Interpersonal Visual Visual
Intrapersonal Bodily Bodily
Linguistic Existential Existential
Logical Interpersonal Interpersonal
Naturalistic Intrapersonal Intrapersonal
Rhythmic Linguistic Linguistic
Visual Logical Logical
Figure 1.8- This serves as a baseline for the next experiment.

Intelligence Lesson Test: Final Three Months

Bodily Bodily Bodily
Existential Existential Existential
Interpersonal Interpersonal Interpersonal
Intrapersonal Intrapersonal Intrapersonal
Linguistic Linguistic Linguistic
Logical Logical Logical
Naturalistic Naturalistic Naturalistic
Rhythmic Rhythmic Rhythmic
Visual Visual Visual
Figure 1.9- This figure represents the pattern in which yielded the greatest results
when adhered to.
Results:

Figure 2.0- The first semester test scores.

This is the first of the results after the students were taking the class for two
months. So, not only were the test results immensely better than the failing results. As

mentioned before, this could have been due to having a better teacher so that is why

both tests, memory checks, and the first month control group were being used to rule

out this notion.

So far, the good results gives credibility to the assumptions made by the

psychological profiles. If the physiological profiles, were incorrect, there would be a

much wider differences in between the grades and from the varying different levels.
Figure 2.1- This is the grade results for the second semester tests.

As can be seen, there is a slight increase from the first graph, to the second

graph. This can be due to the increased teaching ability and comfortability over time. As

well as, the students were getting more practice within their own intelligence every

week for a year. This would give credibility to the notion that practicing in ones own
intelligence can increase the rate in which someone can learn. The best term that can be

used for this is playing in your own environment, because the students were

previously playing the the previous teachers will and not to their own. They were

brought to a place they knew nothing about, so it was much harder for them to thrive.

Now, if the test scores were drastically different from each other that would

give credence to IQ theory. The IQ theory presupposes that each individual has a certain

learning capacity and are limited to that capacity. However, in all the students, across

the board, there is an incredibly noticeable increase from when the experiment first

began and less of one from around the second test.

Next, the monthly checks. Each month has its own distinctive trends. However,

the trends in which the months where the patterns were repeated, the trends tended to

remain the same. While follow each check, when the Cycle Method was utilized, that

the students did not perform as well as when they were at a 1:1 ratio. However, even

though they didnt perform as well, they did perform at around the same levels in some

areas. As can be seen the averages drop and rise. This will give credibility to the notion

that the intelligences have a possibility to work together. As can be seen, all of the charts

tend to have a positive trend towards the older students. This can be due to the fact that

the older students know why they are learning so they take it more seriously. Also,
because they are taught the subject more frequently at school. It should also be noted

that around the second month and the final months the trends should be noticeably the

same.
 Around the first two months more sporadic tests scores can be seen. This is

because for the first two months, they only knew the information in which was taught to

them after the previous teacher. The test spans eight months, so there is a lot in which

they did not know from the previous teacher. So it was expected to see the drops around

the first two months. It was also expected to see the increase as it goes into the later

months.

One of the more interesting findings is that the trends become a lot more

visible around Group 1. As previously mentioned, age does tend to play a factor in the

way school is handled by the students and their memory capacity. But as can be seen,

that when they are taught within their intelligences, the averages across the board tend
to rise. They fall every now and again for personal reasons. This can be due to students

having a bad day at home, not enough sleep, or not enough food to properly be

nourished.

Also, the last of the interesting findings was that the students who usually

performed the best, had another main factor behind them. They had their parents

introducing the concepts to them, versus forcing the concepts onto them. Now, these

students were added in with the other students because of the varying class sizes. The

varying class sizes of students made this factor, due to its negligible size, very minute.

Conclusion:

From the results, it can be concluded that both of the hypothesis were correct.It

can be inferred that separate intelligences exist there is enough information to prove that

they can be discerned. There is enough evidence giving it credibility of its existence

(by way of the scores when properly assessed). However, evidence to prove they work
together was difficult to gather, as imagined. Due to their ability to mesh well, there

would be many false flags. In each of memory checks, it was dependent on a lot of

outside factors, and how the intelligences reacted with each other.

However, there was not enough time or the methods used required too much

time, to prove that different intelligences can utilize different intelligences. Even

though, it can be gleamed, from the memory checks, that some intelligences did better

in some categories than others, more time is necessary to test all of the categories

against themselves. This will allow the formation of something more rigid, but flexible.

All in all, in acknowledgment to the null hypothesis, the IQ theory does have

interesting points. However from the results, they point in a direction in which cant be

denied. If the theory was as pervasive as it claims it to be, then a more accurate

depiction of it would be clearer. It would have been noted that the differences between

some students are just too great.

Furthermore, the assertion in which details that if a person utilizes their own

intelligence group more often are more likely to find better results, are also backed up

by the evidence found. In fact, a lot of the students made noticeable confidence changes

towards the end of the experiment.

One student in particular, who despised the classes, volunteered himself to take

the test. This student, has been at the school for years, and hasnt even done his
homework. However, once this experiment was getting settled, the student showed

noticeable differences. Which ranged from being more polite, doing his own homework

by himself, being more open, volunteering to answer questions within the classroom,

assisted in cleaning the classroom after each lesson, and showed me his cars that he

never showed anyone before.

In conclusion, a lot can be said of this experiment. However, the end goal was

clear and achieved and it was to the students benefit. The class sizes were increasing

dramatically (200% increase), student mental retention rates were increasing, they were

able to use the subject matter in more complex settings, the test scores dramatically

increased, general attitudes increased across the board, and only one student left from

the classes. However this was due to scheduling issues. So, in the end everyone was a

better person due to this experience.