Sternberg triarchic theory of intelligence

Sternberg triarchic theory of intelligence

I recognize intelligence through the evaluation of an individual’s ideas or the way they perceive generally. I also recognize their intelligence by examining how they cope or handle the various issues they face. For instance, if a group of individuals faces a problem, then one individual generates an idea that is likely to solve the issue, then I consider that individual intelligent. However, while recognizing intelligence, it is crucial to establish a contrast between being clever and intelligent. Most people usually equate an individual’s level of academic performance or attainment to intelligence (Bartholomew, 2014). However, psychologists have, over the years, established that an individual’s capacity to think analytically and apply their experiences and knowledge is typically more important than their ability to command a large number of facts. Therefore, the best approach to recognizing intelligence in a person is the extent to which the person understands a situation or an issue and develops an effective solution towards solving the problem.

My theory conforms to the Sternberg triarchic theory of intelligence. Sternberg distinguished three aspects of intelligence, including analytical, distinct, and practical. The theory comprises of three sub-theories whereby each sub theory relates to a specific type of intelligence. While the contextual sub theory relates to practical intelligence and involves an individual’s ability to function in their environment successfully, the experiential sub theory corresponds to creative intelligence, which requires one’s ability to deal with novel issues or situations (Sternberg, 2016). On the other hand, the componential sub theory refers to a person’s analytical intelligence and constitutes a person’s ability to solve problems. Within the componential sub theory, Sternberg defined three types of mental components and processes which enable a person to solve problems they encounter, including performance components, meta-components, and knowledge acquisition components.

According to the sub theory, meta-components are responsible for enabling an individual to monitor, control, and evaluate their mental processes to help them create plans. Solve problems or make informed decisions. Sternberg (2016) states that the knowledge-acquisition components enable people to learn new information that will help them execute their plans while performance components play a vital role in assisting individuals in taking actions if their plans are arrived at by the meta-components. The Sternberg theory conforms to my theory of recognizing intelligence in that it acknowledges the idea that people go through various mental processes while experiencing problems which require adequate analytical skills (Sternberg, 2016). Therefore, the two theories conform to that they both focus on establishing how the three types of intelligence, including componential, experiential, and contextual, facilitates mental processes to ensure that a person makes informed decisions while solving problems.

The best technique I would apply to measure someone’s intelligence would be performing an IQ test that is peer-reviewed. Psychologists apply IQ tests to measure an individual’s ability in a few distinct areas including spatial ability to visualize figures and shapes, mathematical ability such as using logic to solve problems, language ability on solving word puzzles or recognizing words with jumbled letters and memory such as recalling visual or aural information (Bartholomew, 2014). Nonetheless, it would be important that I structure the IQ tests in a way that determines more by what the questions correlate to than what they will measure. For instance, the tests I will employ will serve a crucial purpose in measuring aspects of auditory processes, processing speed, as well as visual-spatial processing. This approach will work best since the IQ tests will measure the person’s ability to understand issues and ideas and subsequently develop analytical skills to find an effective solution to the problems.

References

Bartholomew, D. J. (2014). Measuring intelligence: Facts and fallacies. Cambridge University Press.

Sternberg, R. J. (2016). A triarchic theory of human intelligence. Human assessment: Cognition and motivation (pp. 43-44). Springer, Dordrecht.