The Nature of Human Intelligence

by Robert J. Sternberg (Editor)

The study of human intelligence features many points of consensus, but there are also many different perspectives. In this unique book Robert J. Sternberg invites the nineteen most highly cited psychological scientists in the leading textbooks on human intelligence to share their research programs and findings. Each chapter answers a standardized set of questions on the measurement, investigation, and development of intelligence - and the outcome represents a wide range of substantive and methodological emphases including psychometric, cognitive, expertise-based, developmental, neuropsychological, genetic, cultural, systems, and group-difference approaches. This is an exciting and valuable course book for upper-level students to learn from the originators of the key contemporary ideas in intelligence research about how they think about their work and about the field.

Genres: Psychology

348 pages, Paperback

Published January 11, 2018

About the author

Robert J. Sternberg's spectacular research career in psychology had a rather inauspicious beginning. In elementary school he performed poorly on IQ tests, and his teachers' actions conveyed their low expectations for his future progress. Everything changed when his fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Alexa, saw that he had potential and challenged him to do better. With her encouragement, he became a high-achieving student, eventually graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University. In a gesture of gratitude, Dr. Sternberg dedicated his book, Successful Intelligence to Mrs. Alexa.

Dr. Sternberg's personal experiences with intelligence testing in elementary school lead him to create his own intelligence test for a 7 th grade science project. He happened to find the Stanford-Binet scales in the local library, and with unintentional impertinence, began administering the test to his classmates; his own test, the Sternberg Test of Mental Abilities (STOMA) appeared shortly thereafter. In subsequent years he distinguished himself in many domains of psychology, having published influential theories relating to intelligence, creativity, wisdom, thinking styles, love and hate.

Dr. Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of (Successful) Intelligence contends that intelligent behavior arises from a balance between analytical, creative and practical abilities, and that these abilities function collectively to allow individuals to achieve success within particular sociocultural contexts. Analytical abilities enable the individual to evaluate, analyze, compare and contrast information. Creative abilities generate invention, discovery, and other creative endeavors. Practical abilities tie everything together by allowing individuals to apply what they have learned in the appropriate setting. To be successful in life the individual must make the best use of his or her analytical, creative and practical strengths, while at the same time compensating for weaknesses in any of these areas. This might involve working on improving weak areas to become better adapted to the needs of a particular environment, or choosing to work in an environment that values the individual's particular strengths. For example, a person with highly developed analytical and practical abilities, but with less well-developed creative abilities, might choose to work in a field that values technical expertise but does not require a great deal of imaginative thinking. Conversely, if the chosen career does value creative abilities, the individual can use his or her analytical strengths to come up with strategies for improving this weakness. Thus, a central feature of the triarchic theory of successful intelligence is adaptability-both within the individual and within the individual's sociocultural context.

Reviews

[Griffin Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very recent (published 2018) collection of 19 articles written by the most eminent experts on human intelligence. It contains a very nice mix of g-theorists, and those who find the g-factor to be insufficient and hope that the field will develop a model with a broader view of intelligence.

[mansi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thought provoking book. The paucity of an authoritative textbook on intelligence is the reason why these books are hard to read, because they pick on where ideally a textbook should leave with various theories. That seems to be the only drawback. On it own, if you have a previous understanding of basic concepts of intelligence, it offers a lot, is intriguing, reasonably sized unlike many handbooks. Even though information can be in opposing directions, it successfully captures the latest research and future orientations in the field.

[kdn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book but with many contradictory informations (because of the format), and hard to understand without some basis about the field.

[ISRAEL MATSUKI · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important part of the Human Intelligence body of knowledge. My bedside book

[Daanish Shabbir]

who knew psychologists have so much fun!

[Tue Le · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enlightening book featuring contributions from the most prominent psychologists and neuroscientists studying human intelligence, this book explains in great detail what intelligence is, how it is measured, why it is significant, and what its correlates are. It is more or less a compact encyclopedia of human intelligence.