Triarchic theory of intelligence

Sternberg's definition of human intelligence is "(a) mental activity directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection and shaping of, real-world environments relevant to one's life".

[4] The metacomponents are executive processes used in problem solving and decision making that involve the majority of managing our mind.

[5] Whereas Sternberg explains that the basic information processing components underlying the three parts of his triarchic theory are the same, different contexts and different tasks require different kinds of intelligence.

Barbara did not perform as well as Alice on the tests taken to get into school, but was recommended to Yale University based on her exceptional creative and intuitive skills.

[5] Sternberg's third subtheory of intelligence, called practical or contextual, "deals with the mental activity involved in attaining fit to context".

[4] For example, when the weather changes and temperatures drop, people adapt by wearing extra layers of clothing to remain warm.

[4] A teacher may invoke the new rule of raising hands to speak to ensure that the lesson is taught with least possible disruption.

The effectiveness with which an individual fits to his or her environment and contends with daily situations reflects degree of intelligence.

Celia did not have outstanding analytical or synthetic abilities, but she "was highly successful in figuring out what she needed to do in order to succeed in an academic environment.

She knew what kind of research was valued, how to get articles into journals, how to impress people at job interviews, and the like".

Practical intelligence is also a topic covered by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers: The Story of Success.

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.

[11] More specifically, task-switching and interference management are suggested to play an important role in divergent thinking.