shrager%cmu-psy-a@sri-unix.UUCP (01/30/84)
From: shrager (jeff shrager) @ cmu-psy-a Recommended reading for persons interested in a psychological view of (human) intelligence: Sternberg, R.J. (1983) "What should intelligence tests test? Implications of a triarchic theory of intelligence for intelligence testing." in Educational Researcher, Jan 1984. Vol. 13 #1. This easily read article (written for educational researchers) reviews Sternberg's current view of what makes intelligent persons intelligent: "The triarchic theory accounts for why IQ tests work as well as they do and suggests ways in which they might be improved...." Although the readership of this list are probably not interested in IQ tests per se, Sternberg is the foremost cognitive psychologist concerned directly with intelligence so his view of "What is intelligence?" will be of interest. This is reviewed quite nicely in the cited paper: "The triachric theory of human intelligence comprises three subtheories. The first relates intelligence to the internal world of the individual, specifying the mental mechanisms that lead to more and less intelligent behavior. This subtheory specifies three kinds of information processing components that are instrumental in (a) learning how to do things, (b) planning what to do and how to do them, and in (c) actually doing them. ... The second subtheory specifies those points along the continuum of one's experience with tasks or situations that most critically involve the use of intelligence. In particular, the account emphasizes the roles of novelty (...) and of automatization (...) in intelligence. The third subtheory relates intelligence to the external world of the individual, specifying three classes of acts -- environmental adaptation, selection, and shaping -- that characterize intelligent behavior in the everyday world." There is more detail in the cited article. (Robert J. Sternberg is professor of Psychology at Yale University. See also, his paper in Behavior and Flame Sciences (1980, 3, 573-584): "Sketch of a componential subtheory of human intelligence." and his book (in press with Cambridge Univ. Press): "Beyond IQ: A triarchic theory of human intelligence.")