The dominant theory

Abstract

Intelligence can be defined as the capacity to learn, reason, understand and similar types of mental activity. If the mentioned is correct, this implies that intelligence has many characteristics and it depicts the gradient in the capacity, ability and mental attitude amongst different people. Yet this particular definition is not agreed upon by all the scientists. No common ground has been found, in fact, when it comes to the definition of intelligence. All the individuals and professionals who study intelligence (Psychologists, educator's etc) have different concepts of it. In this paper, we try to focus on the traditional notion of intelligence, and its critic.

Traditional notion of intelligence, and its critic

Introduction

There have been considerable amount of tries to define intelligence and support it through different theories so that an actual measurable picture of intelligence can be obtain but all have gone in vain. Yet a majority of theories on intelligence have reached a conclusion that it is a system and process of cognition implying that intelligence does not exist as a singular entity but a system of different functions which constitute intelligence in the form of the outcome of any action or reaction exhibited by the individual under consideration There have been many attempts to explain the different ways a person thinks, learns and adapt himself to te environment started in the 1980s in the USA. Amongst all the theories that define intelligence, the most popular theory has been Robert Stern-berg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence. As the name indicates, the theory suggests that human intelligence system contains three distinct features.

Discussion

The three intelligences in human cognition as proposed by Robert J Sterberg are as follows:

Analytical Intelligence

It is the ability deeply analyzes and judge different ideas, solves problems and the aspect of decision making.

Creative Intelligence

This type of intelligence focuses on the aspect of mind to create something which does not exist. It involves thinking outside the normal convention and this is depicted when someone writes a novel or gives a very interesting idea.

Practical Intelligence

The ability of a person to find the things and utilizes which are in optimum benefit for himself and goes with the environment and situation. The three intelligences, or as he also calls them three abilities, comprise what Sternberg calls Successful Intelligence: "the integrated set of abilities needed to attain success in life; however an individual's defines it, within his or her sociocultural context."

The three faculties of intelligence as Sternberg has defined are constituents of successful intelligence. Successful intelligence is defined as the integrated form of abilities which are prerequisite to achieve success in life. It is defined by an individual within the context of her own society and culture. Sternberg continued to validate practical intelligence which has conjured a significant amount of criticism. This idea provides the core of debate on this theory. In the process of understanding this particular idea is basically most essential to understand, and how this is really unique for the conventional and most importantly the ideal of traditional ...