Dimensions of Talent and Ability: A Critical Look at Multiple Intelligences, and How They Really Manifest

Dimensions of Talent and Ability: A Critical Look at Multiple Intelligences, and How They Really Manifest

A popular idea touted as an alternative or "better" version of the standard scientific definition of intelligence (i.e., general intelligence, IQ) is the "multiple intelligences" theory, which suggests that there are many "types" of intelligences, such as musical, naturalistic, spiritual, visual, interpersonal, etc. While a popular idea, it is not really grounded in true axes of differences in humans and some do not much constitute the concept of an ability, and most of the “multiple intelligences” are found to not be separate from IQ and general intelligence (Visser et al. 2006). However, it is clear that all talent, ability, and successful outcomes aren't entirely covered by the general factor of intelligence, and it might be useful for individuals to have awareness of the different axes of ability and what they relate to, as opposed to the common tendency to view 'IQ' as the only dimension of ability associated with desirable outcomes, which is very far from accurate. All dimensions of ability are important and serve roles in society, and it is important to not place any on a pedestal and attribute all desirable outcomes to "IQ" as it typically is culturally (Azuma et al. 1987).

What is general intelligence?

IQ or general intelligence "g" doesn't represent an inherent value, sophistication, “correctness” etc of a person, and rather marks an axis of individual differences linked to particular outcomes, and can be considered a personality disposition, like introversion or extraversion (Charlton 2009a). g is made up of lower levels of cognitive abilities that split into closer groups together more closely the further down, g representing the underlying factor causing strong correlations between all cognitive abilities under g (i.e., something on the lowest level would be your ability to remember 2 different colored shapes). The two commonly recognized first lower order factors of g are verbal/crystalized intelligence, and spatial/performance/fluid intelligence. These factors correlate - high verbal IQ typically comes with a higher spatial IQ, but are still independent, and while men and women are found to have the same average total IQs, men are consistently found to score much higher on spatial IQ, and women on verbal IQ (Johnson & Bouchard 2007), and this is shown to be a result of biological tradeoffs in the processes involved in spatial & verbal cognition, linked directly to hormonal and brain differences in men and women (Crespi 2016a)(Crespi & Badcock 2008) as well as genes on the X and Y chromosomes, as proven by studying conditions where X and Y chromosomes are duplicated, deleted, or dysfunctional (Crespi 2008).

Correlates of intelligence

General intelligence and its lower factors, verbal and spatial all correlate differently with different outcomes. Verbal IQ correlates with competence and vocational interest in areas considered creative or artistic (Ackerman & Hehhestad 1997), including music (Wesseldijk et al. 2021), humor (Feingold & Mazzella 1991), creative writing, and theater/film (Kaufman et al. 2017). Spatial IQ correlates with competence and interest in technical and mechanical areas, such as engineering and mathematics (Ackerman & Hehhestad 1997). Overall intelligence correlates with scientific and investigative interests (Ackerman & Hehhestad 1997)(Kaufman et al. 2017). IQ also effects a number of variables that tend to be less thought of relating to abilities, for example spatial abilities are associated with playing video games (Huang et al. 2012), behavior and personality that is more 'masculine' (Pletzer et al. 2019), literal & detail oriented thinking, increased sensory sensitivity, "thing" based interests, etc (Crespi 2016b). Verbal ability correlates with a "big picture" thinking style, ideational fluency (ability to produce novel ideas)(Silvia et al. 2013) (Zmigrod et al. 2015), abstract and symbolic thinking (Crespi 2016b), lowered in-group bias and less belief that social groups should dominate others (Heaven et al. 2011), and higher cognitive empathy (intuitive understanding of how other people's minds work)(Milligan et al. 2007)(Crespi 2016b). General intelligence correlates with support for free speech and opposition to political correctness (Louise et al. 2022), lower tendency to reject scientific ideas and higher tendencies to reject moralistic ideas about the world (such as generic conspiracies, paranormal beliefs) and increased willingness to criticize own beliefs (Rizeq et al. 2020), as well as having less moralistic attitudes (e.g., being offended by swearing, wanting to be tough on crime, belief that the world is a meritocracy, and general authoritarianism)(Johnsen 1987)(Heaven et al. 2011). Intelligence also associates with unconventionality, reduced sociability, better ability to control emotional reactions, lower cleanliness, more curiosity, and self rated ability to learn quickly, solve complex problems, and innovate (Anglim et al. 2022). 

Beyond Intelligence

While intelligence is important for certain things, intelligence is far from being the only important trait linked to outcomes and abilities that are socially desirable (intelligence also becomes socially undesirable and even dysfunctional in particularly high levels - high verbal IQ is linked to narcissism, bipolar disorder, schizotypal personality disorder (Del Giudice 2018), high spatial IQ to autism (Crespi 2016b), and high general IQ to bipolar disorder (Gale et al. 2013), anorexia (Duncan et al. 2017), and narcissistic personality disorder (Coid 1999), and particularly high IQ individuals show similar behaviors and outcomes to individuals with behavioral and intellectual disabilities (Shaywitz et al. 2001), and are likely to underachieve (Blaas 2014)). Higher intelligence as an ability only is important for complex informational tasks (such as creating a new and good story, understanding quantum physics, criticizing and deviating from common ideas, synthesizing large bodies of information, creation of novel information and discoveries, creating an original and very moving art piece, rational thinking overcoming rampant cognitive biases, etc), otherwise having a normal range of intelligence (e.g., not intellectually disabled) is only important for general functioning in the natural and social world, and someone of 115 IQ is not much different than someone with 90 IQ - 115 might do slightly better in life and be a bit quicker to learn and may be better able to do certain jobs, but these differences aren't very important except at their poles, and are only important for a specific range of outcomes. Complicated jobs often thought to be associated with very high intelligence (e.g., being a surgeon) do not differ by much from the general population in cognitive ability, supporting the statement that high IQ mostly confers benefit specifically to intellectual and creative pursuits (Subramanian et al. 2011). Above average intelligence may benefit other abilities, however higher intelligence likely only benefits abilities directly related to processing complex information. Other dimensions of traits unrelated to intelligence serve just as much importance as well as particular benefits at their poles, which I will demonstrate in the coming slides. One last point is that high intelligence is typically valued by people who are intelligent themselves, and individuals with average or lower intelligence may not see value in intelligence or even see it as a negative trait, and instead value other traits (though these desired traits may inaccurately be referred to as "intelligence" despite being unrelated to general intelligence).

Body-Kinesthetic Intelligence

Body-kinesthetic intelligence is one of the proposed dimensions of the multiple intelligences theory, and distinct from most of the multiple intelligence scales, it does not correlate much with general intelligence (Visser et al. 2006). Sports and dance interest and participation, which do not correlate with cognitive ability (Kaufman et al. 2017), correlate with the body-kinesthetic intelligence scale (Kocak et al. 2019), similar to the correlation with IQ and creative/intellectual interests. Hypothetical correlates of body-kinesthetic intelligence, like general intelligence such as sports participation are heritable (Zempo et al. 2019)(Beunen & Thomis 1999), and genetic testing can discriminate elite athletes from the general population (Pickering & Kiely 2020). Body-kinesthetic intelligence is socially desired and sexually selected, similar to general intelligence in the display of "good genes" (Varella et al. 2022). Together, this provides evidence that abilities related to bodily control and physical performance represent a largely independent dimension of ability from general intelligence, and shows empirical evidence of validity as a construct.

Extraversion

I argue that extraversion can be seen as an ability, one that is explicitly separate from "social intelligence" and cognitive empathy (which mainly relate to verbal IQ), and can be described as an individual's ability to effectively make use of the external social world for their own benefit. Extraversion is the non-pathological side of grandiose narcissism (Miller et al. 2011), which has shown to have benefits in one's ability to effectively use the external world for their own benefit, for example doing better in job interviews (Paulhus et al. 2013). Narcissism and extraversion promote goal-oriented behavior (McCabe & Fleeson 2012), and are shown to aid in social and economic success utilizing the external world by various metrics (Green et al. 2019)(Campbell et al. 2003), and extraverts are better at finding and pursuing opportunities for personal gain (Zimmerman et al. 2012). Extraverts display enhanced problem solving in some areas (Athota & Roberts 2015), and famous people tend to have high levels of narcissism (Young & Pinksky 2006), likely because narcissism and extraversion promote behavior that can result in becoming famous - for example many child models and performers have parents with narcissistic traits, which may be inherited from the parents and expressed in the child as well (Sukenick 2001). Extraversion and narcissism drives the pursuit of socially desired "major life goals'' that are culturally considered to indicate success, especially economic, familial, physical (e.g., being fit and attractive), image (e.g., living an aesthetically pleasing lifestyle), and political aspirations (Robert & Robins 2000), and interestingly, openness, a correlate of general intelligence negatively predicts these goals, but predicts personal aspirations such as creative pursuits and enjoyable experiences (Robert & Robins 2000). Extraverts are better at making impressions on others, are more charming, better at influencing others, and gaining popularity (Der Linden et al. 2010)(Poy et al. 2014), which is an extremely useful ability. Extraversion, in conclusion, seems to represent a dimension of ability and personality that confers an enhanced ability to utilize and "climb up" in the external social world to one's advantage, which may be lacking in introverted individuals, such as in schizoid personality disorder, who are apathetic but may make original contributions to fields vocationally (Ahktar 1987).

Conscientiousness

Charlton (2009a) argued that intelligence could be more accurately considered a personality trait than an ability, and that conscientiousness could be more accurately defined as an ability rather than a trait (however, they can be seen as both ability and a trait, which would be the most accurate way to conceptualize them). Conscientiousness is sometimes conflated with intelligence, however the traits are separate, and many institutions popularly thought to select for intelligence actually largely select for conscientiousness, and the effective use of intelligence for metrics of success in the "real world" typically requires adequate conscientiousness and extraversion in addition to intelligence (Charlton 2009b). Surgeons for example, are not found to have elevated intelligence or openness (Subramanian et al. 2011), but are found to have higher conscientiousness and extraversion (Drosdeck et al. 2015). Individuals with high conscientiousness are precise, cautious, organized, hard working, rule following, gratification delaying, responsible, attentive, good at memorizing, conforming to social and moral norms, and perfectionistic (Charlton 2009a,b), which is important and useful for attaining personal goals as well as function well in various roles and tasks - such as being a surgeon - that intelligence alone is not much of a benefit to. General intelligence is useful and important for creating and discovering information that would be used by surgeons, scientists having the highest general intelligence out of different professions (Johnson & Bouchard 2008), however effectively using the information and practicing as a surgeon largely requires conscientiousness, where intelligence only serves as a secondary benefit - a scientist who discovered something about the human body may be too careless and distractible to use it effectively in treating someone without error - for example high intelligence is often associated with poor handwriting and dyslexia like deficits (Silverman 2004), and cognitive distractibility & disorganization (referring to low latent inhibition in this case which underlies distractibility and disorganized thinking in psychosis) is associated with intellectual achievement (Carson et al. 2003). Intelligence can also increase the likelihood of a person taking on unusual or false ideas due to the personality dispositions that come with intelligence (Charlton 2009c). Doctor House from the show “House” is a character that depicts someone with very high intelligence, but low conscientiousness, in a setting that typically selects for high conscientiousness and average intelligence.Conscientiousness is not only a powerful predictor of school performance in students but is considered to be crucial for achievement in a school setting (Dumfart & Neubauer 2016), and people with ADHD tend to do poorly in school despite having normal intelligence (Del Giudice 2018). Conscientiousness predicts economic and social success more consistently than other traits, including intelligence (Duckworth et al. 2012), and predicts performance in complex skilled jobs (Blickle et al. 2012). Like intelligence, body kinesthetic intelligence, and extraversion, conscientiousness is a genetic and biologically based trait (Jang et al. 1996) underpinned by differences in brain function and hormones (Fisher et al. 2015), showing that it similarly functions as a genetically determined ability. 

Conclusion

General intelligence, body kinesthetic intelligence, extraversion, and conscientiousness serve as major independent dimensions that confer benefits and socially desirable outcomes in different areas. Culturally, intelligence is often conflated with “goodness”, “superiority”, “likeability” and people tend to define intelligence based on traits they personally think are good, desirable, and socially or aesthetically pleasing, including traits that are associated with low intelligence (Azuma et al. 1987), and “intelligence” is often used as a way to compete or define social status and worthiness as a human. Instead of viewing psychological traits as markers of superiority or inferiority, they should be treated as what they are: dimensions of personality and ability that confer benefits in particular areas in particular ways, the desirability of which depends on the individual. Rich and popular people like rich and popular people, active and sporty people like active and sporty people, responsible and morally correct people like responsible and morally correct people, and curious and creative people like curious and creative people. It should not be a taboo to recognize the traits of others and oneself, however it is currently because they are culturally treated as measures of status and superiority, and recognition of these traits almost always is based on things that do not actually predict these traits, but rather things like political views and personal desirability of a person's traits. 

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