In the 1980s, research on human potential by Harvard professor Howard Gardner led to the establishment of Project Zero, which brought together researchers from the humanities and sciences and to investigate understanding, creativity, problem solving, science, the arts, and reasoning in daily life.
吉爾福特以此說明智能的多元性，衍生的可能性高達一百八十種。一九八○年代，哈佛大學教授嘉納進行的人類潛能研究，導引出「哈佛零方案」的創立。這個方案結合了人文與科學兩個領域的研究人員，開始針對理解、創造力、問題解決、科學、藝術與日常生活中的推理能力進行研究。