Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence

1. Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence • introduction • a. Processing components • b. Contextual components • c. Experiential components: Adapting to unique experiences • Improving intelligence

2. introduction • Robert Sternberg believes that the ability to function effectively in the real world is an important indicator of intelligence • He views intelligence as consisting of three cognitive parts: • a. Processing components (skills used in problem solving) • b. Contextual components (links between intelligence and the environment) • c. Experiential components (mechanisms for modifying intelligence through experience). Figure p. 121

3. Sternberg's triarchic model of intelligence Performance component Adapting to the environment Knowledge Acquisition component Processing components Meta- component Contextual components Changing the environment Intelligence Selecting out of The environment Experimental components Relate new Experiences To old Create New patterns

4. Processing components • They consist of a metacomponent, a language acquisition component, and a performance component. • They are the most basic parts of his model that learners use to think about and solve problems. • Sternberg describes these component as analogous to manager, trainee, and laborer in a company. • The three components work together to produce a final product.

5. Processing components • For example student writing a term paper: • 1. Deciding on a topic, planning the paper, and monitoring progress as its written = metacomponent (manager) • 2. gathering facts and combines them into related ideas = knowledge acquisition component (trainee) • 3. doing the actual writing = performance component (laborer)

6. Contextual components • These explain how intelligent behavior involves adaptation. • In reaching goals, intelligent people adapt to, change, or select out of the environment when necessary. • A student trying to succeed in a college course may do the following; • 1. adjusts her study strategies in response to a professor's testing procedures (adapts) • 2. she can't clearly hear his presentations, so she moves to the front of the class (changes the environment) • 3. despite these efforts she isn't succeeding, so she drops the class (selects out of the environment) • contextual components help us apply our intelligence to the solution of everyday, real-word problem.

7. Experiential components: Adapting to unique experiences • Sternberg thinks that intelligent behavior includes: • a. the ability to effectively deal with novel experiences; and • b. the ability to solve familiar problems efficiently and automatically • An intelligent person relates new experiences to old and quickly identifies relationships.

8. Experiential components: Adapting to unique experiences • Example • A beginning reader encounters the word she. Teacher says, "shheee." • Then the reader encounters the word show. Teacher says, "this word sounds like 'shho.'" • Next the student sees the word ship. He tries pronouncing it himself: "ship." • He now has a rule to decode future words. When s and h are together, they go "shh." • According to Sternberg, an intelligent child readily recognizes patterns and soon can use rules automatically. This ability increases with age.

9. Improving intelligence • Sternberg believes that practice in relating new to existing ideas improves intelligence. • Sternberg emphasizes three different kinds of thinking that improve intelligence through allowing students to process information in different ways: • a. analytic- involves comparing, contrasting, critiquing, judging, and evaluating. • b. creative- includes investigating, discovering, imagining, and supposing • c. practical- includes implementing, applying, using, and seeking relevance in ideas.