What are examples of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence?

A gymnast holding a balance, a dancer learning a routine after seeing it once, a surgeon tying a suture, a carpenter fitting a joint by feel, a mechanic working in a space they cannot see, or a goalkeeper reading where a shot will go. Gardner counts both large whole-body movement and fine control of the hands as the same intelligence.

Is bodily-kinesthetic intelligence the same as being a kinesthetic learner?

No. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is a claim about an ability — being skilled with the body. “Kinesthetic learner” comes from learning-styles theory, a claim that some people learn any subject better through movement and touch. A 2008 review of learning-styles research by Pashler and colleagues found virtually no evidence that matching teaching to a person's preferred style improves learning. Gardner himself has written that multiple intelligences are not learning styles.

Can bodily-kinesthetic intelligence be tested?

There is no standard, validated test of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence as a whole. Researchers use specific motor tasks instead. In a 2006 study of 200 adults, a balance test and a timed hand-dexterity test were used — and the two were not significantly related to each other, which suggests “bodily-kinesthetic” covers more than one ability. Online quizzes that assign you an intelligence type are self-descriptions, not tests.

What careers suit bodily-kinesthetic intelligence?

The usual lists name athlete, dancer, actor, physical therapist, surgeon, dentist, carpenter, mechanic, firefighter or sculptor — Gardner's own examples are dancers, athletes, craftspeople, surgeons and mechanics. These are illustrations of jobs that depend on skilled movement, not research findings: with no validated overall measure, no study shows that people in these jobs have more bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.

Is bodily-kinesthetic intelligence related to IQ?

Very little, on the best direct evidence. In a 2006 study the balance and dexterity tests had almost no relationship with a test of general mental ability, unlike tests of verbal, spatial, logical or naturalistic ability. That partly supports Gardner's view that bodily skill is different from the abilities IQ tests measure — so being very coordinated, or very clumsy, says almost nothing about your IQ.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: Meaning & Examples

Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is the capacity to use the whole body, or parts of it such as the hands, to solve problems or make things — the skill of a dancer, an athlete, a surgeon or a carpenter. It is one of the original seven intelligences in Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and is often called being “body smart”. There is no standard test for it, and in the most direct test of the theory its two tasks — balance and hand dexterity — were barely related to each other or to general reasoning.

Where the idea comes from

Gardner listed bodily-kinesthetic intelligence among the seven in Frames of Mind (1983). He describes it as the potential to use the whole body or parts of the body to solve problems or create products, and his examples are deliberately broad: dancers, actors and athletes, but also craftspeople, surgeons, mechanics and other technicians. That means one intelligence covers both gross motor skill (balance, strength, coordinating the whole body) and fine motor skill (precise control of the hands) — a choice that matters when the idea is put to a test.

The other intelligences, and how this one sits next to naturalistic, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence, are in our guide to types of intelligence.

Signs and examples of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence

These illustrate the definition; they are not a diagnostic checklist:

Learning movements quickly. Picking up a dance routine, a tennis serve or a climbing move after seeing it a few times.
Precise hand control. Sewing, drawing, playing an instrument, assembling small parts or suturing.
Balance and timing. Staying steady on a beam or a board, or judging exactly when to jump, catch or strike.
Solving problems through the hands. A mechanic finding a fault by feel, or a craftsperson adjusting a joint until it fits.
Expressing ideas with the body. Actors, mimes and dancers who communicate through movement.

Not the same as being a “kinesthetic learner”

Many pages treat bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and the “kinesthetic learner” as one idea. They are different claims. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is about an ability: being skilled with your body. The kinesthetic learner comes from learning styles, a claim about instruction: that some people learn any subject — history, chemistry, a language — better if it is taught through movement and touch.

The second claim has been tested and has not held up. In a 2008 review, Harold Pashler, Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer and Robert Bjork found plenty of evidence that people state preferences about how they like to learn, but virtually no evidence that teaching people in their preferred style improves what they learn. Gardner himself has argued, in a 2013 article titled “Multiple intelligences are not learning styles”, that the two ideas are often confused. Being good at physical skills is real; needing to move in order to learn algebra is not something research supports.

What happened when it was tested

The clearest direct test of Gardner’s theory is a 2006 study by Beth Visser, Michael Ashton and Philip Vernon in the journal Intelligence. They gave 200 adults two tests for each of Gardner’s eight intelligences, plus a test of general mental ability. For bodily-kinesthetic intelligence they deliberately chose one test of each kind of movement:

Gross motor — the Stork Stand. Standing on the ball of one foot, hands on hips, timed until balance is lost.
Fine motor — Mark Making. Drawing as many small, identical pen marks into a grid of squares as possible in 60 seconds.

The results, from the full data in Visser’s thesis:

Separate from general intelligence. Neither body test was significantly related to the test of general mental ability, and both loaded below .10 on the general factor (the balance test at .03) — while every verbal, spatial, logical, interpersonal and naturalistic test was significantly related to it. The authors read this as support for Gardner’s claim that bodily-kinesthetic ability is quite different from the cognitive abilities.
But not one ability. The balance test and the dexterity test correlated only about .13 with each other, which did not reach statistical significance. The authors concluded that the two tests do not form a coherent domain — balance and hand dexterity look more like separate skills than one intelligence.
People judged one half of it. Participants’ own ratings of their bodily ability were related to their balance scores (a correlation of a little over .30), but not to their dexterity scores. Two questionnaire items about hand skill (being good at making things with your hands, and finding it hard to shuffle cards) correlated .01 and .00 with the dexterity test.

So the study gives Gardner half a point: skill with the body really is different from the reasoning that the g factor describes. What it does not support is one “body intelligence” that a person has more or less of across the board.

Is it really an intelligence?

Few people doubt that motor skill is real or that experts in sport, dance and surgery are extraordinary. The argument is about the label. Lynn Waterhouse’s 2006 review in Educational Psychologist concluded that multiple intelligences theory lacks adequate empirical support; Gardner and Seana Moran replied that the critique misreads the theory. Critics say calling motor skill an “intelligence” stretches the word to cover talents; defenders reply that a definition built only from school subjects leaves out abilities that plainly take skill. The 2006 data cut both ways: bodily skill is independent of general reasoning, but it is not a single skill.

Careers that use it

Gardner’s own examples — dancers, athletes, actors, craftspeople, surgeons and mechanics — are the basis of most career lists, which usually add physical therapist, dentist, firefighter, paramedic, sculptor and chef. Treat these as illustrations of jobs that depend on skilled movement. Because there is no validated overall measure, no study shows that people in these jobs have more bodily-kinesthetic intelligence; and the 2006 results suggest a surgeon’s hand skill and a gymnast’s balance may be different abilities. For a structured look at work that fits you, try our career test.

How to develop it

No programme has been shown to raise “bodily-kinesthetic intelligence” as a whole — which fits the finding that it is several skills. Motor skills themselves improve with practice of the specific skill:

Practise the movement you want. Balance training improves balance; it will not make your handwriting neater.
Break skills into parts, then join them. Coaches and music teachers do this for a reason.
Get feedback. A coach, a video of yourself or a measurable target turns repetition into improvement.

What an IQ test measures here

An IQ test, including ours, measures reasoning with patterns, numbers and words. It does not measure balance, coordination or dexterity. In the 2006 study the body tests had almost no relationship with general reasoning, so a high score says nothing about how coordinated you are, and being clumsy says nothing about your IQ.

Trust and scope notes

This page summarises published research for general information. The 2006 findings are reported from the full data in the author’s thesis; the learning-styles review is reported from its published abstract. Nothing on this page assesses motor development or any medical condition — concerns about a child’s coordination are a question for a doctor or a physiotherapist. The IQ Revealed test is an online reasoning test of 40 original items for adults aged 18 and over; it does not measure bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and is not a clinical assessment.

IQ Revealed is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Howard Gardner or the other researchers, universities, journals and publications named on this page.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: Meaning, Examples and Evidence