ROBERT STERNBERG

'Robert J. Sternberg' (born December 8, 1949), an American psychologist and psychometrician and the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University. He was formerly IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University and the President of the American Psychological Association. Robert Sternberg sits on the editorial boards of numerous journals, including American Psychologist.

Contents

Research interests

Many descriptions of intelligence focus on mental abilities such as vocabulary, comprehension, memory and problem-solving that can be measured through intelligence tests. This reflects the tendency of psychologists to develop their understanding of intelligence by observing behaviour believed to be associated with intelligence. Sternberg (1985) believes that this focus on specific types of measurable, mental abilities is too narrow. He believes that studying intelligence in this way leads to an understanding of only one part of intelligence and that this part is only seen in people who are 'school smart' or 'book smart'. There are, for example, many individuals who score poorly on intelligence tests, but are creative or are 'street smart' and therefore have a very good ability to adapt to the environment. According to Sternberg, these are the two other parts of intelligence. The three parts of intelligence described by Sternberg are called: ★ analytical intelligence, ★ creative intelligence ★ and practical intelligence. These three parts are central in his theory, the Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence.

Creative intelligence

Practical Application

Practical intelligence

Successful intelligence

Criticisms

Credentials

Bibliography

See also

References

External links

Research interests

Sternberg's main research interests include:

★ Higher mental functions, including intelligence and creativity

★ Styles of Thinking

★ Cognitive Modifiability

★ Leadership

★ Love and Hate
Sternberg has proposed a triarchic theory of intelligence and a triangular theory of love. He is the creator (with Todd Lubart^[1]) of the investment theory of creativity, which states that creative people buy low and sell high in the world of ideas, and a propulsion theory of creative contributions, which states that creativity is a form of leadership.
He is spearheading an experimental admissions process at Tufts to quantifiably test the creativity of an applicant.^[2]
Sternberg has criticized IQ tests, saying they are "convenient partial operationalizations of the construct of intelligence, and nothing more. They do not provide the kind of measurement of intelligence that tape measures provide of height."^[3]
In 1995, he was on an American Psychological Association task force writing a consensus statement on the state of intelligence research in response to the claims being advanced amid the ''Bell Curve'' controversy, titled "."
==A triarchic theory of intelligence==
Many descriptions of intelligence focus on mental
abilities such as vocabulary, comprehension,
memory and problem-solving that can be measured
through intelligence tests. This reflects the tendency
of psychologists to develop their understanding
of intelligence by observing behaviour
believed to be associated with intelligence.
Sternberg (1985) believes
that this focus on specific types of measurable,
mental abilities is too narrow. He believes that
studying intelligence in this way leads to an understanding
of only one part of intelligence and that
this part is only seen in people who are 'school
smart' or 'book smart'.
There are, for example, many individuals who score poorly on intelligence
tests, but are creative or are 'street smart' and
therefore have a very good ability to adapt to the
environment. According to Sternberg, these are the
two other parts of intelligence.
The three parts of intelligence described by Sternberg are called:

★ analytical intelligence,

★ creative intelligence

★ and practical intelligence.
These three parts are central in
his theory, the Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence.

Analytical intelligence

Analytical intelligence refers to the ability to complete
academic, problem-solving tasks, such as
those used in traditional intelligence tests. These
types of tasks usually present well-defined problems
that have only a single correct answer.
For example, questions may ask about the meanings of words
(such as 'Is the meaning of concave the same as or
opposite to the meaning of convex?') and how to
solve number-series problems with a missing
number (such as 'What number comes next in the
following series: 3, 5, 8, 12, 17 ?'). People with a
high-level of analytical intelligence would be likely
to achieve well in school exams such as the GAT and
in similar types of tasks that mainly depend on what is
learned in school and through books. This is why
Sternberg (1985) refers to analytical intelligence as
being observed in people who are 'school smart' or
'book smart'.

Creative intelligence

Creative intelligence refers to the ability to successfully deal with new and unusual situations by
drawing on existing knowledge and skills. For example, suppose that you are driving along a
deserted country road and your old model car breaks down because the radiator has run out of
water. There is a creek nearby but you have nothing in the car that could be used as container to get water from the creek. Nor is there a nearby rubbish bin in which you might be able to find a suitable container (or use the bin itself). If you solve your problem by using an object such as your shoe or one of the car's hub caps as a water container, then you have used creative intelligence.
Creative intelligence would also be involved when using your imagination to write a short story, paint an artwork or create an advertisement. Unlike tasks requiring analytical intelligence, which have single correct answers, tasks requiring creative intelligence have
open-ended or many possible answers.

Practical Application

Robert Sternberg added experimental criteria to the application process for undergraduates to Tufts University, where he is Dean of Arts and Sciences, to test "creativity and other non-academic factors." Calling it the "first major university to try such a departure from the norm," ''Inside Higher Ed'' noted that Tufts continues to consider the SAT and other traditional criteria.^[2][5]

Practical intelligence

Practical intelligence refers to the ability to adapt to
everyday life by drawing on existing knowledge and
skills. Practical intelligence is involved when dealing
with everyday personal or practical problems. It may
also be involved when dealing with new and unusual
situations in everyday life. For example, suppose that
you found yourself alone in an unfamiliar
suburb, without money or a mobile phone
and had missed the last train or bus back to your
home.
According to Sternberg, successfully dealing
with this situation involves a distinctly different part
of intelligence, often observed in people who are
'street smart'. Furthermore, what is required to
adapt successfully in a particular situation may be
different in another situation. 'Street smart' people
can usually make these adjustments, applying their
knowledge and skills in effective ways. According to Sternberg, the three parts of
intelligence involve abilities that are different,
separate and are not 'fixed'; that is, they can change
(become stronger or weaker) through experience
in everyday life.

Successful intelligence

Furthermore, an individual may be
stronger in one or more of these parts. If a person is
sufficiently strong in each of the three parts, then
the three parts will be 'in balance'. When this
occurs, the person has what Sternberg calls successful
intelligence. According to Sternberg (2004), successfully
intelligent individuals have 'the ability to
achieve success according to their own definition of success, within their social and cultural environment.
They do so by identifying and capitalising on
their strengths, and identifying and correcting or
compensating for their weaknesses in order to adapt
to, shape, and select their environments'.
Furthermore,
individuals with successful intelligence often
have a 'can-do' attitude, learn from past experiences
and apply their mental abilities to achieve their
goals and ambitions in real-life situations.

Criticisms

Sternberg's ideas have been repeatedly criticised in the scientific literature for lacking empirical support. The proliferation of "intelligences" he has been suggesting followed the lead of Gardner (1983) and was copied by other theorists who have been coming up with other fanciful notions (e.g., Goleman, 1995 - emotional intelligence).
In 2003, Professor Linda Gottfredson published a detailed debunking of the claims behind practical intelligence, which was published in the scientific journal Intelligence and subsequently won the 2005 Mensa Excellence in Research Award.

Credentials

Sternberg has a BA from Yale, a PhD from Stanford University, and four honorary doctorates.

Bibliography

;Key References:Higher Mental Functions

★ Sternberg, R. J. (1977). Intelligence, information processing,and analogical reasoning: The componential analysis of human abilities.Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

★ Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Beyond IQ: A triarchic theory of human intelligence. New York: Cambridge University Press.

★ Sternberg, R. J. (1990). Metaphors of mind: Conceptions of the nature of intelligence. New York: Cambridge University Press.

★ Sternberg, R. J. (1997). Successful intelligence. New York: Plume.

★ Sternberg, R. J. (1999). The theory of successful intelligence. Review of General Psychology, 3, 292-316.

★ Sternberg, R. J., Forsythe, G. B., Hedlund, J., Horvath, J., Snook, S., Williams, W. M., Wagner, R. K., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2000).Practical intelligence in everyday life. New York: Cambridge University Press.

★ Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2000). Teaching for successful intelligence. Arlington Heights, IL: Skylight.
; Key References: Creativity

★ Sternberg, R. J., James C Kaufman, & Pretz, J. E. (2002). The creativity conundrum: A propulsion model of creative contributions. Philadelphia, PA.

★ Sternberg, R. J., & Lubart, T. I. (1995). Defying the crowd: Cultivating creativity in a culture of conformity. New York: Free Press.

★ Sternberg, R. J., & Williams, W. M. (1996). How to develop student creativity. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
; Key Reference: Leadership
Sternberg, R. J., & Vroom, V. H. (2002). The person versus the situation in leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 13, 301-323

See also

★ Howard Gardner

★ James C Kaufman

References

1. Sternberg, R. J., & Lubart, T. I. (1995). Defying the crowd: Cultivating creativity in a culture of conformity. New York: Free Press.
2. Jaschik, Scott (2006). A "Rainbow" Approach to Admissions. Inside Higher Ed, July 6, 2006.
3. The Theory of Successful Intelligence Interamerican Journal of Psychology - 2005, Vol. 39, Num. 2 pp. 189-20
4. Jaschik, Scott (2006). A "Rainbow" Approach to Admissions. Inside Higher Ed, July 6, 2006.
5. McAnerny, Kelly (2005). From Sternberg, a new take on what makes kids Tufts-worthy. Tufts Daily, November 15, 2005.


★ Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic,1983

★ Gottfredson, L. S. (2003). Dissecting practical intelligence theory: Its claims and evidence. Intelligence, 31(4), 343-397.

External links

★ Robert J. Sternberg - Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences - Tufts University (Tufts profile)

★ Triarchic Theory of Intelligence - uwsp.edu