The Multiple Intelligences of Modern Professional Athletes

JB’s Note: Since this article was written as a critical thinking paper for an assigned project, it is on file with the Tennessee Board of Regents, Nashville State Community College and Tennessee State University attributed to my student files. If excerpting from this article, please let me know via the email link to the side which is under my name.

The scientific community, as I did, once believed in the theory of one singular intelligence. In 1983, Professor Howard Gardner published the book, Frames of Mind. The main point of Prof. Gardner’s book is one chapter called “A Rounded Version: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.” His thinking was that all human beings have seven forms of intelligence: musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. As a former athlete, I heard many derisive remarks towards the athlete’s intelligence, mainly that they were not intelligent. The belief that athletes do not have a great deal of intelligence is fading away, however. Modern athletes have more intelligence than is perceived by the viewer. I will, in this writing, apply Gardner’s theories to the modern athlete to prove that they are not mere jocks but intelligent in ways that modern science is now discovering.

In previous eras, the athlete was a blue collar type worker. Most athletes held a regular “nine to five” job after their respective season was done for the year. Those athletes only had to deal with a four to six month season, with some pre-season practices, which paid an average salary. Athletes were not marketing magnets until the first commercial involving “Dapper Don” Meredith, quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. His advertising claim to fame was a Lipton television commercial. Meredith earned a moderate amount from this commercial, and he set the catalyst that we see today for modern athletes. They are pitchmen for various products. For example, Tiger Woods is prominently seen on many commercials on television. In fact, Tiger Woods is one of the marketed athletes in our modern times. He is one of the first athletes to reach one billion dollars. His predecessor, Michael Jordan, was also a highly marketed athlete noted for his Nike line of athletic shoes. Another athlete to note is Peyton Manning. Manning is known for his humorous commercials with Sprint. A common factor for all three men is education. All three men are graduates of universities. University work is a combination of logical-mathematical intelligence and linguistic intelligence. These athletes are already showing signs of multiple intelligences.

Gardner, as a professor of cognition and education at Harvard, knew that he had to make his paragraphs to his theory short and direct. To understand what Gardner meant by multiple intelligences, you have to hear his words directly:

An intelligence must also be susceptible to encoding in a symbol system – a culturally contrived system of meaning, which captures and conveys important forms of information. Language, picturing, and mathematics are but three nearly worldwide symbol systems that are necessary for human survival and productivity. The relationship of a candidate intelligence to a human symbol system is no accident. In fact, the existence of a core computational capacity anticipates the existence of a candidate intelligence to a human symbol system that exploits that capacity.

The main three intelligences needed in athletics are: body-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, and spatial. These intelligences are easily judged by accepted forms of a golf swing, a basketball shot, or a football pass. As I have studied, the body-kinesthetic intelligence is noted as “the ability to use one’s body to express an emotion (as in a dance), to play a game (as in a sport), or to create a new product (as in devising an invention).” This is true in all athletes. The body has to be able to respond in the chosen sport, or the athlete cannot perform.

In the case of Tiger Woods, he has to use three different intelligences inside his golf game. His swing is dictated by the body-kinesthetic intelligence. Before he takes the swing, though, he has to use his logical-mathematical intelligence to determine the distance to his target. He also has to take into account the various “hazards” placed before him on the golf course. This aspect brings his spatial intelligence to the forefront. In just one golf swing, three different intelligences are needed. Logical-mathematical intelligence states, “A solution to the problem can be constructed before it is articulated.” Tiger has to be precise in his measurements. If he hits the ball too hard, he will miss the target. If he hits the ball too soft, he will be well short of his target. Spatial intelligence is “problem solving required for navigation and in the use of the notational system of maps.” He has to judge his spatial dimensions accurately. If he hits the ball too hard, he will end up hitting the trees behind the target. If he hits the ball too soft, he will end up in a sand trap hazard. He is not alone in using these intelligences.

Peyton Manning has to use his logical-mathematical intelligence for two purposes. He has to judge the game clock and the play clock in the same sequence. If he cannot manage the time needed, his team will be given a game penalty. Manning also adds in linguistic intelligence to his game management. During the practice weeks, Manning will tell his offensive side about the various play calling alternatives he will use in any situation. He will also execute the verbal commands at any time if he sees a defensive shift that is not in his favor. This also calls upon the spatial intelligence needed. If he sees a space exploited in his favor, he will use his verbal notations to adjust his team. He will also need his body-kinesthetic intelligence to execute a pass that should go do a desired receiver. Football might be a “physical” sport, but it also has many mental aspects attached to it.

Michael Jordan was known as one of the greatest basketball players in the modern era. He would make near-impossible basketball shots with the greatest of ease. His signature jump shots are a neat combination of body-kinesthetic intelligence and spatial intelligence. He also used a slight bit of logic-mathematical intelligence to judge distances. Distance judgment is essential due to the rule of the 3-point shot, which places the line at twenty-three feet and nine inches. Much like Peyton Manning, he also helped to lead his Chicago Bulls teams with verbal commands. To a point, he used his linguistic intelligence to distract his opponents. Jordan was known as a talker during his time as an active NBA player. He was able to use his linguistic intelligence to take his team to six NBA championships. Jordan was also the first athlete in the modern era to become a human billboard for products.

Gardner states about interpersonal intelligence, “Interpersonal intelligence builds on a core capacity to notice distinctions among others; in particular, contrasts in their moods, temperaments, motivations, and intentions.” All three athletes noted above are known as television pitchmen. Michael Jordan was a reputed pitchman for Nike athletic shoes and Gatorade. Tiger Woods is also a Nike pitchman and has his own signature brand of drink for Gatorade. Peyton Manning has his own commercials for Gatorade. All three men are also eloquent speakers after the game has concluded. The press conference is an exercise of interpersonal intelligence combined with linguistic intelligence. The athletes have to convey a message of how they want to be perceived by the general public. Michael Jordan wanted to be known as a fierce competitor. Peyton Manning wanted to be known as an even keeled competitor. Tiger Woods portrays himself as a guarded, yet fierce competitor. All three men know what the audience expects to see every time. This also brings us to the art of intrapersonal intelligences.

Athletes are very complex people. Even though we know their public persona, we truly do not know their innermost thoughts. Tiger Woods is notoriously press shy and controlled much like Michael Jordan was in his active days. He has been known to carry a calm demeanor which is compared to Frank Sinatra. Michael Jordan was also notoriously press shy outside of his regular mandatory press conferences. Both men knew that their contracts depended on staying within a certain image, and the true image of both men was not what corporate interests wanted. Peyton Manning, though, is an open book. He gives interviews on a regular basis to the media which portrays him in an easy going manner. He seems secure with his own persona in such a way that he exudes a large understanding of intrapersonal intelligence. Intrapersonal intelligence is stated as:

Knowledge of the internal aspects of a person: access to one’s own feeling life, one’s range of emotions, the capacity to effect discriminations among these emotions and eventually label them and to draw upon them as a means of understanding and guiding one’s own behavior. A person with good intrapersonal intelligence has a viable and effective model of himself or herself.

Athletes who guard themselves a bit realize that the true self might not be what the public will want to see. Athletes who do not guard themselves seem to have an open understanding of their own personal limitations and emotions they can and should convey. This is what makes all athletes more complex than meets the eye.

Athletes, as a whole, will always have to deal with misconceptions given to them by the public. They are seen, by the majority, as people who only deal with their chosen sport, and they ignore any other aspects outside of their chosen sport. They deal with much more than just “playing ball.” They have to mathematically realize distances they must cover to accomplish their goals. Spatially, they have to cross over human or natural obstacles to accomplish those goals. Physically, they have to execute the plan with precision. After the game, they have to use linguistic skills and interpersonal skills to speak to a press that is either in their favor or against their favor. Intrapersonally, they have to realize how much control they need to have over their emotions during the press conference. Gardner does say, “As human beings, we all have a repertoire of skills for solving different kinds of problems.” Athletes are no different than most humans. All athletes utilize multiple intelligences to create a total person. If we follow all of Gardner’s theories, that makes the modern athlete more intelligent than we realize.

Tags: Case Studies, James Brown, michael jordan, nba, nfl, peyton manning, PGA, Professor Howard Gardner, Professor JB?!!, sports psychotherapy, Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Tiger Woods, weekend digest
Categories: Daily Specials, Drunken Ramblings, Non-Alcoholic

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