Describe Sternberg’s triarchic theory of successful intelligence. Define each of the identified, interacting intelligences

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: Sternberg’s triarchic theory of successful intelligence identifies three broad, interacting intelligences: (1) analytical intelligence, (2) creative intelligence, and (3) practical intelligence. Intelligent behavior involves balancing all three intelligences to achieve success in life according to one’s personal goals and the requirements of one’s cultural community.
Analytical intelligence: Analytical intelligence consists of the information-processing skills that underlie all intelligent acts: executive function, strategic thinking, knowledge acquisition, and cognitive self-regulation. But on intelligence tests, processing skills are used in only a few of their potential ways, resulting in far too narrow a view of intelligent behavior.
Creative intelligence: In any context, success depends not only on processing familiar information but also on generating useful solutions to new problems. People who are creative think more skillfully than others when faced with novelty. Given a new task, they apply their information-processing skills in exceptionally effective ways, rapidly making these skills automatic so that working memory is freed for more complex aspects of the situation. Consequently, they quickly move to high-level performance. Although all of us are capable of some creativity, only a few individuals excel at generating novel solutions.
Practical intelligence: Finally, intelligence is a practical, goal-oriented activity aimed at adapting to, shaping, or selecting environments. Intelligent people skillfully adapt their thinking to fit with both their desires and the demands of their everyday worlds. When they cannot adapt to a situation, they try to shape, or change, it to meet their needs. If they cannot shape it, they select new contexts that better match their skills and goals. Practical intelligence reminds us that intelligent behavior is never culture-free. Children with certain life histories do well at the behaviors required for success on intelligence tests and adapt easily to the testing conditions and tasks. Others, with different backgrounds, may misinterpret or reject the testing context. Yet such children often display sophisticated abilities in daily life—for example, telling stories, engaging in complex artistic activities, or interacting skillfully with other people.
The triarchic theory highlights the complexity of intelligent behavior and the limitations of current intelligence tests in assessing that complexity. According to Sternberg, intelligence tests, devised to predict achievement in school, do not capture the intellectual strengths that many children acquire through informal learning experiences in their cultural communities.