Touhou and the nine Types of Intelligence

[Magic The Shastri]

I don’t know if someone has created a topic about it already, but while discussing with Tempest on another topic, I had a flash of inspiration.

There are 9 types of intelligence, and everyone excels on what least 2 of them. The same would apply to all touhou characters. So, why not discussing about it? What character would excel on what type of intelligence?

As for my conceptions, I’d say:

1. Naturalist Intelligence (Nature Smart)

-Youmu (She deals with botanical activities by taking care of the garden of Hakugyokurou)
-Yuka (Skilled in botany as well)

2. Musical Intelligence (Musical Smart)

-Prismriver Sisters (Musical Performers)

3. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart)

-Patchouli (Proficiency in Alchemy)
-Ran (Proficiency in Mathematics)

4. Existential Intelligence

-Yukari (She is a long lived character and has several different approaches to explain existence)

5. Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)

-Keine (She teaches. I’m studying to be a linguistics/literature teacher myself and one of the things I’ve learned so far is that Interpersonal Intelligence is primordial for any teacher. It’s one of the required attributes to deal with the students)
-Miko (Understands the others more than any other character)

6. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart)

-Suika (A powerful melee fighter with huge strength and stamina. Would definitively excel in any kind of athletic activity)
-Yuugi (Ditto)

7. Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)

-Patchouli (Readers usually have acute linguistic intelligence)
-Aya (She is a reporter, this intelligence is required for proper and efficient communication)

8. Intra-personal Intelligence (Self Smart)

-Koishi (It’s what psychologists have)
-Satori (She is not much different from her sister, and from what I know, she seems to be a huge introvert)

9. Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)

-Murasa (She is the captain of a ship. high Spatial Intelligence is required in order to pilot a ship, a plane, to drive a formula one car, or anything of the sort)


Would you list any other characters under the above categories?

To know more about the intelligence types, visit this: http://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Projects/The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligence.htm

[Yukari-Chan]

Well. This topic is surely interesting. Now, I wonder what Cirno's Intelligence is. ( What about engineering  intelligence? )

[AJS]

Interesting topic....now as for new additions...

You say everyone excels on at least 2 types, right?  I'd say Youmu also fits under "Body Smart", since she's so skilled with sword-fighting (plus her concentration ability).

Shikieiki is definitely existential intelligence, enough said. 

Eirin's been around so long, so she could possibly go under existential intelligence as well, but she'd probably also fit under logical-mathematical intelligence too.

Akyuu has linguistic intelligence for obvious reasons, and perhaps existential and interpersonal too.

I'll come up with more later...(On a side note, I'd say that I fit mostly under logical and spatial intelligence)

[Drake]

Miko (Understands the others more than any other character)

Objection, Miko's flaw is that she can hear people's desires but relies on that ability too much.
Because she can hear desires, she thinks she intimately knows the person enough to make judgments about them, she acts as if she knows what the other person is thinking, and will talk nonstop as if the other person doesn't need to say anything. This is pretty apparent in her dialogues. If anything, I'd claim the contrary that Miko isn't very good with interpersonal relationships.

[Matt]

hm can Meiling go under body smart?

[Drake]

Meiling would probably be much more body smart than the oni simply because the oni don't really have to do anything to be really strong. Even as a random youkai, Meiling actually trains in martial arts and can control chi. That's pretty effin body smart if you ask me.

[Zil]

I believe Cirno embodies all 9 of them to an equal extent.

On a serious note, there are some characters who seem pretty hard to classify. I'm wondering where Okuu and Orin fall. And Yoshika too.

[Magic The Shastri]

Well. This topic is surely interesting. Now, I wonder what Cirno's Intelligence is. ( What about engineering  intelligence? )

While not really official, I'd say cirno's intelligence is the Spatial one. Through fan art, I've seen her creating complex ice structures very easily, and that would only be possible through the mind of an Architect. Spatial cogitation and mental imagery are components of this kind of intelligence, and most likely she can do that in canon as well.

On a serious note, there are some characters who seem pretty hard to classify. I'm wondering where Okuu and Orin fall. And Yoshika too.

I'd say Okuu is Logical-Mathematical intelligence, since she supposedly knows how Nuclear Fusion works.

I have no idea about Orin, and while I don't know about yoshika neither... I could say she has very poor Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (Stiff limbs and no flexibility at all. Would not do a good athlete).

Rumia would have poor spatial intelligence since she has trouble to localize herself in the space (Bumping into trees and all).

(On a side note, I'd say that I fit mostly under logical and spatial intelligence)

If those are your most developed intelligences, I'd say you have a very scientific mind, since those are the two that involves logical thinking.

As for mine:

[High Level]
-Linguistic Intelligence: I'm very good on it. I enjoy reading a lot, though I prefer active reading. I'm also very good at learning new languages and wordplay.
-Intra-Personal Intelligence: I'm a very introspective person and no one understands more about me than myself. I could even be able to spend a whole week only introspecting.

[Medium Level]
-Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: Although mathematics or physics aren't my Forte, I'm still quite good at it.
-Existential Intelligence: I naturally don't philosophically think about life, existence or death that much. (Perhaps because I don't have enough life experience). But sometimes I come with really deep thoughts.
-Interpersonal Intelligence: I used to be bad at it, but now I'm getting much, much better. This comes to show how one can improve a certain intelligence over the years.

[Low Leve]
-Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: I suck at it. I'm not good on sports, I get tired really, really easily and have little strength. (sometimes I have trouble even to open a bottle of soda). But I'm going to try and overcome this weakness through the Gym.
-Spatial Intelligence: No sense of direction at all. I get lost easily and have trouble to picture a map on my head. I'd probably take forever to exit a maze, and I'm also bad with directions and would most likely have trouble to learn how to drive. (I can see myself crashing everywhere) Btw, I failed even to learn how to ride a bicycle, lol.

[?? Level]
-Musical Intelligence: While I'm good at interpretating music, I never tried to compose any myself.
-Naturalist Intelligence: Dunno, never dealt with flowers. Maybe I'm good, or maybe I suck.

That's it, I'm not an absolute genius to excel on every single intelligence. Nobody is perfect. (Maybe except for my boyfriend that says I'm perfect).

[EdibleGhost]

Interesting topic,
I'd say Alice is a mix between the Bodily-Kinesthetic and Spatial Intelligences, since she has to be able to know where all of her dolls are, which one is which, and be able to control them as if they were alive. And she excels at this.

Which brings up an interesting point, where would magic fit in this? We could say that she controls dolls with her hands and fingers, though I believe she's actually using magic.

[AAAAAAAAAAAAA]

Byakuren would technically go under body smart, but she could also be people smart.
IIRC, Meiling tends to the SDM gardens when Sakuya doesn't, wouldn't that make her nature smart, too?
Mystia can sing well when she wants to, and may thus belong under music smart.

[Starxsword]

Ran is exceedingly smart mathematically speaking, but it doesn't seem like she is very smart on other aspects... Compared to Remilia
or Patchouli in Silent Sinner in Blue, she seems kind of slow on the uptake of what is going on.

I actually think Satori has pretty bad intrapersonal intelligence. If straightforward people like Reimu and Yuugi don't like her, then
yeah, I don't see how she has high intrapersonal intelligence.

The same case is with Miko, she seems too self centered to have good interpersonal intelligence.

[Paper Conan]

I believe Cirno embodies all 9 of them to an equal extent.

Oww my sides hurt from laughter.

[Starxsword]

I will just write down the 9 forms of intelligence you written without examples:

1. Naturalist Intelligence (Nature Smart)
2. Musical Intelligence (Musical Smart)
3. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart)
4. Existential Intelligence
5. Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)
6. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart)
7. Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)
8. Intra-personal Intelligence (Self Smart)
9. Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)

It just makes it easier to see all nine of them.
Yuyuko seems almost unmatched in reason, existence, word, self, and nature intelligence. Everything else, she seems to be really good at.
Youmu excels at body smarts and spatial smarts. She seems to be pretty good at nature too, but not at Yuyuko or Yukari's level. They
seem to be able to see the flow of energy better than her, as seen in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody.


Some stuff I disagree with. Like a few others have said, Miko does not seem to have very high interpersonal intelligence.

Ditto with Satori and Koishi. While they can read minds, they don't seem to understand it very well. Koishi, I argue having even lower
intrapersonal intelligence than Satori, because she closed her third eye.

[Magic The Shastri]

Ditto with Satori and Koishi. While they can read minds, they don't seem to understand it very well. Koishi, I argue having even lower
intrapersonal intelligence than Satori, because she closed her third eye.

Exactly because of that. Let me explain, by blocking her interpersonal prowess through the act of closing her third eye, her intrapersonal one got boosted as a side effect. Since most people that are outgoing and extroverts, while having high interpersonal intelligence, they nearly always have poor intrapersonal, and while capable of understanding the others, they fail to understand themselves. As for introverts, while they generally have difficulty to understand the others, they usually have accentuated intrapersonal and are capable of understanding themselves more than the others. The circumstance that explains this tendency is the fact that those two types of intelligence are opposites.

-EDIT-

This is a quote from another topic, but since we're discussing about abilities in that place, I don't want to reply to this statement there because I'm afraid to go off topic. I think it'd be more suitable to put it here.

I actually think Satori has pretty bad intrapersonal intelligence. If straightforward people like Reimu and Yuugi don't like her, then
yeah, I don't see how she has high intrapersonal intelligence.

The same case is with Miko, she seems too self centered to have good interpersonal intelligence.

No dude, you're confusing the balls. Let me put it more clear:

Intrapersonal: Ability to understand oneself
Interpersonal: Ability to understand the others

Having high intrapersonal intelligence has nothing to do with whether people is going to like you or not. To captivate and befriend people you'd need at least a decent degree of interpersonal intelligence. Satori can read the mind of the others, which means she certainly has high interpersonal intelligence. Because she is able to understand your feelings and thoughts as clearly as the day.

[Starxsword]

I will explain more later but I will try to make it short now.

I must say I disagree about your interpretation of Koishi. Interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence are not mutually
exclusive. Having one at a higher level will not invert the other, at the very least I do not see any proof of such.

Having high intrapersonal intelligence has nothing to do with whether people is going to like you or not. To captivate and befriend people you'd need at least a decent degree of interpersonal intelligence. Satori can read the mind of the others, which means she certainly has high interpersonal intelligence. Because she is able to understand your feelings and thoughts as clearly as the day.

Which is why I used Yuugi and Reimu as character examples and not Marisa. Yuugi and Reimu say what they think. They inner and
outer selves do not differ all that much. While Satori is able to read minds, she cannot understand them.
I am trying to clarify this difference.


EDIT: adding more stuff

Now that I have more time, I will try to say what I mean. What Koishi did, I see it more as self deception than self reflection. That is not
something that would help her intrapersonal intelligence.

As for Satori, I was thinking of something else, so you can ignore what I said. I was thinking of interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal
intelligence more on the lines of empathy vs charisma. One is where you can understand another person's feelings and the other is you get along
well with other people.
Whether Satori can read minds or not has nothing to do with intrapersonal intelligence, since it does not help with self assessment.

[OkashiiKisei]

Ran is exceedingly smart mathematically speaking, but it doesn't seem like she is very smart on other aspects... Compared to Remilia
or Patchouli in Silent Sinner in Blue, she seems kind of slow on the uptake of what is going on.

I actually think Satori has pretty bad intrapersonal intelligence. If straightforward people like Reimu and Yuugi don't like her, then
yeah, I don't see how she has high intrapersonal intelligence.

The same case is with Miko, she seems too self centered to have good interpersonal intelligence.

So is 'bad interpersonal-intelligence' a fancy word for anti-social?

Because in the conditions both Reimu and Satori have grown up, I can imagine them being rather anti-social to begin with.

And it sounds like Ran is book-smart, as opposed to street-smart.

[Magic The Shastri]

Interesting topic,
I'd say Alice is a mix between the Bodily-Kinesthetic and Spatial Intelligences, since she has to be able to know where all of her dolls are, which one is which, and be able to control them as if they were alive. And she excels at this.

Good point. Alice would definitively be spatial intelligence. Also, she seems to be good at multi-tasking given that she is able to control multiple dolls. Multi-tasking is a common trait on women. While men on the other hand, are good at focusing.

Which brings up an interesting point, where would magic fit in this? We could say that she controls dolls with her hands and fingers, though I believe she's actually using magic.

Magic would presumably fall under "book-smart" since you need to read a lot of books to learn new magic. Also, proper recitation skills are essential for reciting the spells.

Whether Satori can read minds or not has nothing to do with intrapersonal intelligence, since it does not help with self assessment.

Yes, but the fact that she can read minds, isn't exactly what justifies what I meant by saying she has high intrapersonal intelligence. That would be the fact that she is an introvert, and most introverts have this intelligence at relatively high level.

Every touhou char would fall either into introvert or extrovert category, some examples would be:

Extroverts:
-Suika/Yuugi (party people)
-Komachi (Talkative)
-Tewi (A prankster)

Introverts:
-Patchouli (no need to explain)
-Satori (I can't see her as an extrovert. She is highly anti-social. While being introverted or anti-social isn't exactly the same thing, those characteristics are a bit closely related)
-Rinnosuke (According to PMiSS, He is really quiet ...)

There are many other examples, but right now those are the only ones I can think of.

As a side note, Mokou would fall under "nature-smart" as well. She guides people through the bamboo forest, and knowing well about nature/environment is a trait of this intelligence. Which is particularly high on people such as hunters, explorers or natives.

[Drake]

So is 'bad interpersonal-intelligence' a fancy word for anti-social?

Not really, you can be good with dealing with people without being very social.

I think all of you are making ridiculous assumptions and leaps about what constitutes interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence and why one cannot imply the other and why X person is Y because of a tangent T. These two categories seem to be the only ones that you're all attributing to people because of some semi-related reasoning, not what the category actually describes.

[Magic The Shastri]

I think all of you are making ridiculous assumptions and leaps about what constitutes interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence and why one cannot imply the other and why X person is Y because of a tangent T. These two categories seem to be the only ones that you're all attributing to people because of some semi-related reasoning, not what the category actually describes.

We aren't saying anything ridiculous. If intrapersonal intelligence doesn't constitute the ability to introspect and self-reflect, or if interpersonal doesn't constitute being able understand and interact with other people, then nothing constitutes them.

[Zil]

My interpretation from the page you linked was more like what Star first said. Interpersonal being something like charisma and "people skills" while intrapersonal is more like empathy and understanding how people think and such, which is why it said that psychologists have that kind of intelligence. I'm not sure you can really tell with any of these characters what their intrapersonal intelligence would be just by going from the information we have. I guess the Komeiji sisters are a good guess if we assume that reading peoples minds gives them some kind of insight into human (or youkai) behavior in general, but for most characters I don't see how you could really tell. Maybe Eiki too, I guess. At least I should hope she's good in that type.
But I think it's kinda weird that understanding yourself would be considered it's own category.

[Tengukami]

My interpretation from the page you linked was more like what Star first said. Interpersonal being something like charisma and "people skills" while intrapersonal is more like empathy and understanding how people think and such, which is why it said that psychologists have that kind of intelligence. I'm not sure you can really tell with any of these characters what their intrapersonal intelligence would be just by going from the information we have. I guess the Komeiji sisters are a good guess if we assume that reading peoples minds gives them some kind of insight into human (or youkai) behavior in general, but for most characters I don't see how you could really tell.

Pretty easily, actually. Which characters have ever expressed sympathy, empathy, or emotional understanding of another character?

[Magic The Shastri]

Pretty easily, actually. Which characters have ever expressed sympathy, empathy, or emotional understanding of another character?

Mima when she killed Yuki and Mai.

I think the best example of empathy and sympathy would be byakuren. Since she treats everyone equally and without preconcepts. Be it humans or youkai.

[Drake]

the correct answer is obviously "nobody"

EDIT:

If intrapersonal intelligence doesn't constitute the ability to introspect and self-reflect, or if interpersonal doesn't constitute being able understand and interact with other people, then nothing constitutes them.

This phrase is correct (well besides saying "if this isn't right then everything else is wrong"). Your reasoning before is what's wrong, it almost directly contradicts what you said here.

Expanding on what I mentioned earlier, I didn't mean that you guys were wrong about using inter- and intrapersonal, but that the reasoning used was pretty faulty and roundabout instead of taking the characters' behaviour itself.

Exactly because of that. Let me explain, by blocking her interpersonal prowess through the act of closing her third eye, her intrapersonal one got boosted as a side effect.

First of all the third eye doesn't innately give you the ability to understand another person, it just lets you read their hearts. If anything, both Satori and Koishi have fairly low interpersonal ability because their abilities do their thinking for them. People don't like having their thoughts read and they are hated explicitly for their ability. Koishi probably has much more interpersonal ability than Satori does because she closed her third eye. Second of all, just as how third eye does not imply interpersonal ability, neither does Koishi's subconsciousness ability increase her intrapersonal ability. It's different since she isn't hated for the ability, but she doesn't seem to give herself purpose besides randomly wandering. The closing of her third eye was because she was hated and didn't want to be in contact with people anymore, and thusly she probably has low intrapersonal intelligence. Lastly low interpersonal ability does not imply increased intrapersonal either, no matter what generalizations you want to use.

Being an extroverted person does not mean you have good interpersonal skills. Extroversion in and of itself does not give you super people-understanding powers. Similarly, being introverted does not mean you have good intrapersonal ability. As for two simple examples: people that invite others to parties, make stupid offensive claims and pressure others to do things they obviously are not comfortable with; and people who seclude themselves and feel as if nobody likes them and fall into a depression of unknowingness and insecurity. Just the same, extroversion and introversion also do not predict low ability in the opposite area. While they are simply two examples, it should be pretty clear that a person's social activity is not an indicator whatsoever of relationship-based intelligence.

Actually upon reading more intently, Starxsword has the right mindset.

[Tengukami]

Mima when she killed Yuki and Mai.

I think the best example of empathy and sympathy would be byakuren. Since she treats everyone equally and without preconcepts. Be it humans or youkai.

I'd add Mokou to that list, too, because of that park ranger thing she does. Keine, for being a teacher, and Sakuya, for being a servant (no good servant is devoid of empathy).

Also:

But I think it's kinda weird that understanding yourself would be considered it's own category.

Really? I can count on one hand the number of people I know who truly understand themselves. Most people seem to be clueless about their motivations, influences, flaws and strengths.

[Excelsus]

Mima when she killed Yuki and Mai.

I think the best example of empathy and sympathy would be byakuren. Since she treats everyone equally and without preconcepts. Be it humans or youkai.

Reimu also done that although, she seems a bit crueler...

[Tengukami]

Reimu seems like the kind of person who complains a lot about having to do things for other people, and yet does things for other people all the time. She's likely an empathetic person, but just maintains this front of being annoyed by/lazy about having to do anything for others.

[shadowbringer]

Akyu -> interpersonal / linguistic
Byakuren -> intrapersonal (considering why she started trying to preserve youkai, and thus, herself) / interpersonal (she was able to gather followers quickly after the myouren temple was established, unlike Reimu )l
Eirin -> interpersonal (she granted Urashima Taro his wish of becoming well-known, understood that Reisen couldn't remain hidden in Eientei, and chose to stay by Kaguya's side after the latter's unexpectedly becoming an immortal)/ naturalist (she refuses to drink a deadly tea offered to her by Yuyuko, in IN's FinalA ending)
Hatate -> linguistic / logical (even though she isn't supposed to leave her house as much as Aya does, she must know where to look for the information she's looking for)
Kanako -> interpersonal (she thinks of ways to gather more followers, and enjoys feasts; she also cared to understand how the "balance of faith-based powers" would impact those not on the youkai mountain, which made Kanako try to take the Hakurei Shrine in MoF)
Kasen -> interpersonal (she's shown to try to make Reimu become less lazy) / logical (she found out why Suwako wanted a dam near the base of the youkai mountain)
Marisa -> linguistic (she wrote a grimoire) / intrapersonal (most of her actions are for her own benefit; even though she could be considered selfish, this could mean that this trait/intelligence/skill type would be more well-developed than others)
Mystia -> interpersonal (she runs a stand) / musical
Yorihime -> bodily-kinestetic / spatial (Marisa didn't pay attention to the moon's environment, like Yorihime did) / logical (she figured Sakuya's teleport trick)
Yuyuko -> linguistic (canonically, she seems to be very perceptive, and purposedly not easy to understand) / logical (she knew that Eirin wouldn't drink the deadly tea that she offerred to Eirin, and later, when Youmu asks if she's allowed to drink the tea, Yuyuko says that the tea's "too classy for you to drink")

edit:

Reimu seems like the kind of person who complains a lot about having to do things for other people, and yet does things for other people all the time. She's likely an empathetic person, but just maintains this front of being annoyed by/lazy about having to do anything for others.

Reimu was bored and easygoing since 1996   (I'm reminded of the difference between Reimu and Marisa's dialogues in EoSD's stage 1 as well)
in SSiB, she had to be motivated by Yukari to help Remilia "invade the moon" (motivation being probably curiosity and something to pass her time with), and is shown being lazy-ish in WaHH as well (shortly returning to her "normal state" after her training with Kasen). Eirin commented that Reimu was annoyed when the latter entered Eientei to warn Eirin about a lost rabbit (Reisen) that ended up wounded and resting at the Hakurei shrine (Eirin mentioned that humans in general are noisy like her, iirc). It should be noted that the easy-going part of Reimu's personality seems to be prevalent, not the "annoyed" one.

short version: she's seemingly legitimately lazy (Kasen tried to "fix" that, Yukari had to train her in SSiB, Eirin mentioned how humans -- or young people, perhaps -- were noisy in general), HRtP had Reimu wander around with her Yin-Yang orb with a carefree attitude, even after the Hakurei shrine was destroyed, before the game starts.

[Starxsword]

Well, I think Yuyuko has high intrapersonal intelligence, as well as pretty much all other types of intelligence. Yuyuko is the only character
in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody that is able to control her own temperament causing snow wherever she goes.

As for empathetic characters, most Touhou characters do not really fall into that category. Remilia seems to show empathy for her
employees. Pretty much the bottom page and the next page has her talking about the fairy maids.

[Ibaraki Ibuki]

Assuming danmaku is an artform in the broadest sense of the word, most of the characters would probably have some degree of spatial intelligence (to come up with intricate patterns and to efficiently dodge whatever bullets come at them).

And while we're all at it, let's see how ZUN ranks on these intelligences:

• Naturalistic: Unknown, though I think it's safe to say he respects all things natural
• Musical: High; he composes and has played the trumpet
• Logical: Medium, assuming he writes the code for the games himself
• Existential: Unknown, but then again he is the head priest of the Hakurei Shrine...
• Interpersonal: Unknown; based on his public appearances it's probably around medium.
• Kinesthetic: Unknown (but we all know he's capable of anything when sufficiently drunk)
• Linguistic: Medium/High; his written works are worth reading, I'm dead serious
• Intrapersonal: Unknown
• Spatial: Medium/High, assuming he does all the graphics for the games himself (crappy character art notwithstanding)

[Yukari-Chan]

What would Shinki's intelligent type be?