INTELLIGENCE You won’t

believe but
I am intelligent!
Triarchic theory of intelligence
Robert Sternberg, 1949

Manvi Jain
Author, The Sage Picks
WHO IS INTELLIGENT
CREATURE OR CREATOR?
 Sternberg’s
Triarchic
Theory of
Human
Intelligence • Sternberg believes that focusing on specific measurable mental
abilities (Vocabulary, mathematical skills, problem solving) is too
narrow and that only "school smart" or "book smart“ people can’t be
considered as Intelligent
• There are many "street smart“ who have a very good ability to adapt
and shape their environment, therefore they deserve consideration.
• Giftedness (Innate cooking, music and writing abilities) should be
examined in a broader way incorporating other parts of intelligence
• Many people may possess an integration of all three and have
high levels of all three intelligences
Meta components, Performance Components,
Knowledge-acquisition Components

Sternberg associated the workings of the mind with a series of components.

• Meta-components: are executive processes used in problem solving and decision
making that involve the majority of managing our mind, also
referred to as a homunculus
• Performance components: processes that carry out the actions
that the meta components dictate
• Knowledge-acquisition components: they complete tasks that
involve selectively choosing relevant information from a mix of
information, some of it relevant and some of it irrelevant.
 Analytical,
Creative,
Practical
• Analytical intelligence: the ability to complete
academic, problem-solving tasks.
• Creative or synthetic intelligence: the ability to
successfully deal with new and unusual situations by
drawing on existing knowledge and skills.
• Practical intelligence: the ability to adapt to everyday
life by drawing on existing knowledge and skills, it
enables an individual to understand what to do.
 Analytical: Componential
sub-theory

THIS FORM OF INTELLIGENCE ANALYTICAL GIFTEDNESS IS CONS- INDIVIDUALS WITH THIS FORM OF GIFTEDNESS
FOCUSES ON ACADEMIC INFLUENTIAL IN BEING ABLE ONLY THIS TYPE ARE NOT AS IS OF ‘GENERAL’ TYPE THAT IS
PROFICIENCY. TO TAKE APART PROBLEMS ADEPT AT CREATING UNIQUE TESTED MOST OFTEN.
AND BEING ABLE TO SEE IDEAS OF THEIR OWN.
SOLUTIONS NOT OFTEN SEEN
 Creative: Experiential
sub-theory

FOCUSES ON “CAPACITY TO BE DEALS WITH HOW WELL A NOVEL IS A NEW SITUATION. INDIVIDUALS HIGH IN
INTELLECTUALLY FLEXIBLE TASK IS PERFORMED WITH ITS PEOPLE FIND NEW WAYS OF CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE MAY
AND INNOVATIVE” FAMILIARITY SOLVING IT GIVE 'WRONG' ANSWERS
STERNBERG SPLITS THE ROLE AND BECAUSE THEY SEE THINGS
OF EXPERIENCE INTO TWO FROM A DIFFERENT
AUTOMATED HAS BEEN PERSPECTIVE.
PARTS: NOVELTY AND PERFORMED MULTIPLE TIMES
AUTOMATION. AND CAN BE DONE EASILY
 Practical: contextual
sub-theory

‘STREET SMART’ INDIVIDUALS ADAPTATION OCCURS WHEN SHAPING OCCURS WHEN ONE SELECTION IS UNDERTAKEN
CREATE AN IDEAL FIT ONE MAKES A CHANGE WITHIN CHANGES THEIR WHEN A COMPLETELY NEW
BETWEEN THEMSELVES AND ONESELF IN ORDER TO BETTER ENVIRONMENT TO BETTER ALTERNATE ENVIRONMENT IS
THEIR ENVIRONMENT ADJUST TO ONE'S SUIT ONE'S NEEDS FOUND TO REPLACE THE
THROUGH THREE PROCESSES SURROUNDINGS PREVIOUS, UNSATISFYING
OF ADAPTATION, SHAPING, ENVIRONMENT TO MEET THE
AND SELECTION INDIVIDUAL'S GOALS
 Criticism

• Psychologist Linda Gottfredson criticizes and argues it is absurd to assert

that traditional intelligence tests are not moderate correlation with
measuring practical intelligence
• Gottfredson claims that what Sternberg calls practical intelligence is not a
broad aspect of cognition at all but simply a specific set of skills people
learn to cope with a specific environment (task specific knowledge)
• There is evidence to suggest that certain aspects of creativity (i.e. divergent
thinking) are separable from analytical intelligence and are better accounted
for by the cognitive process of executive functioning

Irrespective of the judgements given by the critics, we still use this Triarchic theory
to enhance our understanding of INTELLIGENCE
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triarchic_theory_of_intell
igence
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sternberg
THANK
• Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Beyond IQ: A Triarchic Theory of YOU
Intelligence. Cambridge University Press.
• Sternberg, R. J. (1997). "A Triarchic View of Giftedness:
Theory and Practice". In Coleangelo; Davis
(eds.). Handbook of Gifted Education. p. 43–53.