Sternberg's view of intelligence
has been closely linked to Aristotle's ancient premise that intelligence is
composed of three aspects theoretical, practical, and productive intelligence.
In Sternberg's view intelligence revolves around the interchange of analytical,
practical, and creative aspects of the mind. (More
on Sternberg views on intelligence and creativity.)
Sternberg�s definition of includes:
"Intelligent behavior
involves adapting to your environment, changing your environment, or
selecting a better environment."
Componential intelligence (often
called analytical)
Traditional notion of intelligence
Abstract thinking & logical reasoning
Verbal & mathematical skills
Experiential intelligence (often
called creative)
Creativity
Divergent thinking (generating new ideas)
Ability to deal with novel situations
Contextual intelligence (often called
practical intelligence)
Street smarts
Ability to apply knowledge to the real world
Ability to shape one�s environment; choose an environment
(Summarized from: Sternberg, Robert (1988)
The Triarchic Mind: A New Theory of Intelligence. NY: Viking Press.)
Professor Robert Sternberg of Yale University developed a
concept of intelligence that equates to combinations of individual preferences from three
levels of mental self-management. These three areas correspond with:
1. Functions of governments of the mind,
2. Stylistic preferences, and
3. Forms of mental self-government.
Examples: As a combination a person might
prefer legislative functions, internal variables and hierarchic habits of
mental self-government; while another individual might prefer executive functions;
external variables and anarchic habits of mental self-government, and so forth.
I. Functions of governments of the mind are:
- Legislative
- creating, planning, imagining, and
formulating.
- Executive
- implementing and doing.
- Judicial
- judging, evaluating, and comparing.
II. Scope - stylistic variables:
- Internal
- by themselves
- External
- collaboration
III. Forms of mental self-government:
- Monarchic
people perform best when goals are singular.
They deal best with one goal or need at a time.
- Hierarchic
people can focus on multiple goals at once
and recognize that all goals cannot be fulfilled equally. These people can prioritize
goals easily.
- Oligarchic
people deal with goals that are of equal
weight well, but they have difficulty prioritizing goals of different weight.
- Anarchic
people depart from form and precedent. Often
they don't like or understand the need for rules and regulations. These people operate
without rules or structure, creating their own problem-solving techniques with insights
that often easily break existing mindsets.
Think about it:
On the surface many of Sternberg's descriptions appear to
equate to some of the aspects of personality type theory. For instance, it may be apparent
to those who have studied some of Carl Jung's work on personality preferences that
Sternberg's "scope variables" of internal and external might
equate to preferences for either introversion or extraversion in Jungian
typology. In this context, preferences for internal (introversion) or external
(extraversion) mental operations might be accurately calculated on popular personality
tests like the Myers-Briggs or Kiersey-Bates.
- Looking at Sternberg's other descriptors in the areas of
"forms" and "functions", see if you can find any other parallels
between his descriptors and aspects of traditional personality typologies.
- Also, in varied combinations (3 [functions] x 2 [scopes] x 3
[forms] = 18) Sternberg's Triarchic Model would yield 18 different combinations for mental
preferences. Within Sternberg's patterns, see if you can categorize and profile your own
mental preferences and those of others you know well.
Other books by Robert Sternberg, Successful Intelligence;
Beyond IQ: A Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence; Cognitive Psychology; How to Develop
Creativity in Students; and Teachers, Intelligence, Heredity, and Environment; and
Teaching for Thinking.
Robert J. Sternberg & Wendy Williams,
Educational
Psychology, 1st ed: Pearson Addison Wesley ( This book explains teaching and
learning through interactions of analytical,
practical and creative thinking. )
Learn more:
Excellent articles explaining
Sternberg's work at:
Online articles :
Successful Intelligence in the classroom
See if you can find other articles on
Sternberg on the web.
