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Parents’ estimates of their own and their children's multiple intelligences
Author(s) -
Furnham Adrian
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1348/026151000165869
Subject(s) - psychology , intrapersonal communication , theory of multiple intelligences , spatial intelligence , developmental psychology , kinesthetic learning , intelligence quotient , spatial ability , perception , interpersonal communication , social psychology , cognition , neuroscience
Previous studies have shown that when parents estimate their own and their children's overall IQ (general intelligence), fathers estimate their own scores significantly higher than mothers estimate their own scores, and both parents estimate their sons’ IQ higher than their daughters’ (Furnham & Gasson, 1998). This study looks at differences in parental estimation of children's multiple intelligences based on Gardner's (1983) seven‐dimensional model. In all, 112 parents estimated their own and their sons’ and daughters’ ability on each of seven specific dimensions (verbal, mathematical, spatial, musical, body‐kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal). As before, males (fathers) rated themselves as more intelligent on mathematical and spatial intelligence than females (mothers) rated themselves on these intelligences. Results indicated that differences in perception of children's intelligence lay only in the areas of mathematical and spatial intelligence, which may be conflated with lay concepts of overall intelligence. Overall, mothers rated their children higher on mathematical and spatial intelligence than did fathers, and both parents indicated that they thought their sons more numerate than their daughters. This result was stronger for the first child than for the second, suggesting the cultural significance attached to first‐born sons (primogeniture).