Overview of
Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Sternberg's
Triarchic Theory of Human Intelligence (1977, 1985, 1995) subsumes both
Spearman’s g and underlying information processing components.
His triarchic theory includes three facets or subtheories:
- Analytical (componential)
- Creative (experiential)
- Practical (contextual)
Sternberg's theory builds on his earlier componential approach
to reasoning. His theory is mostly based on observing Yale graduate
students. Sternberg believes that if
intelligence is properly defined & measured it will translate to
real-life success.
Sternberg's Triarchic Theory is an important effort to
synthesize the various theories of intelligence.
Analytical (componential)
Facet (or Subtheory)
Analytical Intelligence similar to the
standard psychometric definition of intelligence e.g. as measured by
Academic problem solving: analogies and puzzles, and corresponds to his
earlier componential intelligence. Sternberg considers this reflects how
an individual relates to his internal world.
Sternberg
believes that Analytical Intelligence (Academic problem-solving skills)
is based on the joint operations of metacomponents and performance
components and knowledge acquisition components of intelligence
Metacomponents:
control, monitor and evaluate cognitive processing. These are the
executive functions to order and organise performance and knowledge
acquisition components. They are the higher-order processes that
order and organise the performance components. Used to analyze problems
and pick a strategy for solving them. They decide what to do and the
performance components actually do it.
Performance Components:
execute strategies assembled by the metacomponents. They are the
basic operations involved in any cognitive act. They are the
cognitive processes that enable us to encode stimuli, hold information
in short-term memory, make calculations, perform mental calculations,
mentally compare different stimuli, retrieve information from long-term
memory.
Knowledge acquisition components: are the
processes used in gaining and storing new knowledge - i.e. capacity for
learning. The strategies you use to help memorize things exemplify the
processes that fall into this category.
Sternberg feels that IDs in intelligence are related to
IDs in the use of these cognitive processes. He feels that people with
better reasoning ability generally spend more time understanding the
problem but reach their solution faster than those who are less skilled
at the task.
Creative (experiential)
Facet (or Subtheory)
Creative Intelligence: this involves insights, synthesis
and the ability to react to novel situations and stimuli. This he
considers the Experiential aspect of intelligence and reflects how an
individual connects the internal world to external reality.
Sternberg
considers the Creative facet to consist of the ability which allows people to think
creatively and that which allows people to adjust creatively and
effectively to new situations.
Sternberg believes that more
intelligent individuals will also move from consciously learning in a
novel situation to automating the new learning so that they can attend
to other tasks.
Two-Facet Subtheory (Novelty & Automatization)
Basic assumption: That there are two broad classes of abilities associated
with intelligence: novelty skills and automatization skills. A task
measures intelligence if it requires the ability to deal with novel
demands or the ability to automatize information processing (two ends of
a continuum).
Novel tasks or situations are good measures of
intellectual ability because they assess an individual's ability to
apply existing knowledge to new problems.
Practical (contextual)
Facet (or Subtheory)
Practical Intelligence: this involves the ability to
grasp, understand and deal with everyday tasks. This is the Contextual
aspect of intelligence and reflects how the individual relates to the
external world about him or her.
Sternberg states that Intelligence is: "Purposive adaptation to, shaping of,
and selection of real-world environments relevant to one's life"
(Sternberg, 1984, p.271)
Purposive means that intelligence is directed towards
goals, however vague or subconscious they may be.
This means that
intelligence is indicated by one's attempts to adapt to one's
environment.
Practical
Intelligence can be said to be intelligence that operates in the real
world. People with this type of intelligence can adapt to, or shape
their environment. It might also be called “Street-smarts”. In measuring
this facet, not only mental skills but attitudes and emotional
factors that can influence intelligence are measured.
So this practical intelligence is a
combination of:
(a) adaptation to the environment in order to have goals
met
(b) changing the environment in order to have goals met
(c) or, if (a) and (b) don't work moving to a new
environment in which goals can be met
Sternberg believes that individuals considered
intelligent in one culture may be looked on as unintelligent in another.
An important asset of this theory is to
avoid defining intelligence in terms of intelligence tests rather than
performance in the everyday world (which is, after all, what
intelligence tests try to predict!).
Measuring practical intelligence:
- Sternberg Multidimensional
Abilities Test measures all 3 intelligences, on separate scales
- Sternberg and Wagner’s test
of Practical Managerial Intelligence measures:
- ability to write effective
memos
- ability to motivate people
- knowledge of when to
delegate
- ability to “read” people
When
measuring practical intelligence Sternberg looks at things such as how
people decode nonverbal messages e.g. can you tell who are the real
couples?
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