Anna Pivarnik

In the book “Successful Intelligence”, written by Robert J. Sternberg suggests that a person may consider themselves successfully intelligent if the person thinks analytically, practically and creatively. Does this mean everyone is considered successfully intelligent? Sternberg believes “ Successful intelligence is most effective when it balances all three of its analytical, creative and practical aspects” (128). The people who are considered successfully intelligent are those who know how to use these types of intelligences and then use them reflectively. But if one does not know what they are they, cannot use them.

Analytical intelligence can be defined as someone who has “ book smarts”. The person performs well on tests such as the SAT’s on ACT’s. According to Sternberg “ Children are not born to be smart only in this limited way; rather, we shape them to be” (132). Even when children are little they are taught just to use analytical intelligence. They are taught not to think out of the box and to go by what the book says. I consider myself to be an analytical thinker. I perform well on tests simply because I read the material, comprehend what I going on and I am able to regurgitate the information back to myself.

To test our analytical intelligence in PORTfolio class we took several quizzes on the book Successful Intelligence to said if we understood what we read. Being analytically intelligent gives children an advantage in school. Teachers don’t test a child’s creative ability nor if they have practical intelligence. Test taking skills are emphasized at a young age. Much stress is put on a child perform well on tests. Analytical intelligence isn’t the only type of intelligence that Sternberg considers in the shaping of a successfully intelligent person.

Creative intelligence also makes up a successfully intelligent person. Creative intelligence can be seen in somebody who is artistic or someone who likes to make things. Unfortunately schools do not approve of this and try to discourage creative thinking. Schools want analytical thinkers, not creative ones. Sternberg says parents are even trying to put an end to a child’s creative intelligence, “ Sadly parents often find themselves having to encourage their children, to suppress their creativity, before the schools regard them as misfits” (140). Parents want their children to excel in school and if this means telling them to color inside the lines instead of out to suppress their creativity then, this will be done in a discouraging approach..

I am not a very creative intelligent person. I agree with Sternberg when he said schools frown upon kids bring artistic rather than analytical. I found this out during an activity in PORTfolio class where we had to make a picture out of construction paper and we weren’t allowed to use any scissors. Meaning we had to cut everything out by hand. I had trouble because I didn’t want to do this the incorrectly but with creative intelligence there is not wrong way.

The last thing that makes up a successfully intelligent person is practical intelligence. Practical intelligence can be defined as “street smarts”, things you have learned yourself whether it be seeing a problem and coming up with a solution or watching someone else and learning from their mistakes. A practically intelligent person uses common sense. One uses practical intelligence everyday. If I’m faced with a problem I think about what I know and try to solve it.

Every type of intelligence can help you deal with finding some type of solution to a problem. The Six Steps to Finding Solutions to A Problem With Analytical Intelligence are: problem recognition, problem definition, formulating a plan to solve the problem, allocating resources to the problem and then monitor the problem and evaluate your results. Sternberg says, “ The Six Steps in a problem solving cycle are not always completed in the exact order described here. Although this order is probably most typical, people sometimes return to steps they complete earlier but in solving a problem, you are likely at some point to pass through all of these steps” (156). This is true. In my life, I have tried to solve problems this way and I usually have to repeat some steps over again before I get the problems resolved.

Solving problems with creative intelligence is done with a different method. Sternberg says, “ The first most important aspect of creativity is creative intelligence. Which is the ability to go beyond the given to generate novel and interesting ideas. Often, someone who is creative is a particularly good synthetic thinker, seeing connections (synthesizes) other people don’t see. Creative intelligence is an important part of creativity in general but not the whole thing” (191). To solve problems with creative intelligence one must use practical and analytical as well. One cannot solve a problem with creative intelligence alone but can be solved with the help of practical and analytical intelligence. One needs the help of analytical to analyze and evaluate ideas, make decisions and solve problems. The practical intelligence needed is according to Sternberg “ the ability to translate theory into practical and abstract ideas into ‘practical accomplishments’” (192). One must be able to use common sense and what they have learned from previous experiences into helping accomplish a problem.

Practical intelligence can also be used to solve problems. Sternberg says

The measure of crystallized intelligence was given to determine whether the development of everyday problem solving was more similar to the development of crystallized than to fluid intelligence. Performance on the measure of fluid intelligence revealed, from age twenty to thirty remained stable from thirty to fifty remained stable and then declined. Performance on the measure of everyday problem solving task and on the measure of crystallized intelligence increased through age seventy (232).

Practical intelligence is more beneficial to ones life. You will use practical intelligence throughout your whole life because you encounter problems every day. One can use tacit knowledge to help them with these problems. Sternberg says, “ Tacit knowledge is about knowing how about doing. It is a procedural in nature. Second it is revalent to the attainment of goals people value, not the kind of academic drive without practical valve that teachers sometimes try to stuff in student’s heads. And third, it is typically acquired with little help from others” (236). By using tacit knowledge one can have help with practical problem solving.

In conclusion successful intelligence is made up of analytical, practical and creative intelligence. All have their own way of solving specific problems but all need to be used effectively to be considered successfully intelligent.