Sternberg, Robert J. (2003). Wisdom, Intelligence, and Creativity Synthesized. Reviewed by June Schmieder-Ramirez, Pepperdine University

Sternberg, Robert J. (2003). Wisdom, Intelligence, and Creativity Synthesized. NY: Cambridge University Press Pp. 188         ISBN 978-0521802383 Reviewed by June Schmieder-Ramirez Pepperdine University February 6, 2009 Robert Sternberg, the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and professor of psychology at Tufts University, has written for over thirty years about the definition of intelligence and the tendency in the past to gauge intelligence by overly simplistic paper and pencil tests. The book would provide a good overview of the literature on intelligence written in the past thirty years—especially for students in an undergraduate psychology class. Sternberg divides the text into four parts: Intelligence, creativity, wisdom and synthesis. The premise of the text represents for the reader a discussion of wisdom, creativity and intelligence and how they are interrelated. It further represents the work that Professor Sternberg has done in the past thirty years. The text would be most useful for a beginning psychology student or anyone who would like an overview of the most important themes of successful intelligence synthesized well. In the introduction, Dr. Sternberg relates several humorous stories about his own experience with I.Q. tests. Having taken one at a young age, he was surprised about his low score and set off on a mission to understand what this score meant. He retells a story about how he administered I.Q. tests to his fellow students at a young age, getting into trouble with school authorities as a result. It is interesting that considering just I.Q., Sternberg comes to the conclusion that the “world’s cruelest despots and greediest business tycoons are successfully intelligent…. It is for this reason that I have now turned my attention to wisdom.” (p. xviii). As a young student I had a similar experience with intelligence tests, as I asked my elementary teachers as an eight year old child why these tests were being used. I was met with stony silence. This illustrated to me the emotional responses that surround intelligence tests and testing in America’s public schools. As the chapters represent a clear overview of the major parts of the book, I have organized the review to follow according to their structure. Intelligence The author begins by illustrating the truism that intelligence observations are very much the product of the observer. Many individuals make assumptions about others’ intelligence level based upon the qualities that they personally value and see as implicit opinion. For example, I thought that when I served as a teacher in elementary school, I could easily tell which students would do well from the first day of class by just watching how “quick” they responded to my questions. I knew that I could not be judgmental and withheld any final evaluation until the end of the term. Past definitions of intelligence have included descriptors such as: facility and imagination, ability to adapt, and the capacity to obtain more capacity. Questions posed by the author are: Is intelligence made up of many things? How do different cultures view intelligence; are some cultures more aware of relational skills than others and value these more highly? How important are numeric, spatial and memorization abilities? What is the difference between talent, skill and intelligence? After comparing Galton, (1869), Binet, (1916), Vygotsky, (1978), and Gardner (1993), Sternberg concludes that there is no correct model that stands above all others and that systems theory might help but not integrate all we know about intelligence. The author completes the discussion about intelligence by going beyond the operationalized definition to address “successful intelligence.” The author cites the work of Bloom and Gardner (1993) as both emphasizing successful intelligence in their work. His concept of encouraging this type of intelligence is to teach to a students’ strength and correct for their weaknesses. In teaching for successful intelligence, Sternberg emphasizes teaching for memory learning, analytical learning, creative and practical learning. This type of teaching contrasts directly with much of the teaching which goes on now in light of No Child Left Behind. As I write this in December of 2008, there is much discontent in local schools here in California about the attention to testing and lack of creative outlets provided for students of all grades. One acquires from this chapter a feeling that teaching for successful intelligence can be utilized within an accountability-driven system and that this would be a promising direction for schools to take. Creativity Creativity is defined as the “ability to produce work that is novel, (that is, original, unexpected), high in quality, and appropriate (that is useful, meets task constraints), Sternberg, (1988b). The fact that creativity is not a top research topic is clear after reading this chapter. In this chapter the author is opinionated regarding the use of simple “creativity” tests to ascertain divergent thinking. He points out authors such as DeBono (1971) among others as popularizing terms such as types of “thinking hats” which he feels is not based upon research. He does review the literature on creativity and illustrates that the thinking on creativity has evolved and that we have no definitive author on the subject. He does note that an individual should have an I.Q. of at least 120 before they can begin to address solutions to problems in a creative way. Sternberg, (p. 110) included several ways to encourage creativity including: Redefining the problem; Question and analysis of assumptions; Creative ideas should be “sold;” Encourage idea creation; Know the field that you want to be creative in; Encourage risk-taking and tolerance of “ambiguity;” Another discussion later in this chapter is the importance that “integration” might play in the concept of creativity. Sternberg uses the example of Rob Silvers’ photomosaic art in which he uses thousands of tiny pictures to create a new picture. The artist was able to revisit the work of George Seurat’s pointillist technique of using many small dots to form a larger work. To conclude this chapter, it is recognized by Sternberg, that history, the notion of creativity and culture are intertwined. The example of Bach is a good one. Here is a musician who was noted in his time for moving music incrementally forward but who now is regarded as a genius in redefining Baroque music. In many ways creativity is in the eye of the beholder and may change over history and over cultural change. Few would deny that Shakespeare was a creative genius either in his time or ours, so some measures are timeless. Wisdom and its Inter-Relationship between Intelligence and Creativity Sternberg concludes the text with some observations about wisdom and how this might differ from intelligence and creativity. He notes that even though there is a rise in IQs, the rate of global conflict has not abated. He notes that wisdom is “ the power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action, based on knowledge, experience, understanding,” (Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 1997, p. 1533). There are many personal observations about wisdom in this chapter. Again, wisdom is in the eye of the beholder and Sternberg does make several statements based upon his personal opinion. For example, he makes the observation that neither President Clinton nor President Nixon were “wise” individuals. Also noted in this chapter is the correlation between the artist, intelligence and creativity. The text concludes with the importance of all the components—intelligence, creativity and wisdom in being able to select, adapt and shape the environment. It is clear from this summarizing section that Sternberg regards intelligence as the foundation for serving the common good through a balance of extrapersonal, interpersonal and intrapersonal application. Use of this Text This text provides a good overview of the literature on creativity, wisdom, and intelligence. It contains over six-hundred and fifty references. However, it should be noted that over two-hundred of these references are Sternberg references to his work so the reader will acquire a compilation of his work—other authors are not given the same numeric consideration. I would recommend this text for those in beginning psychology classes or for teachers in middle-school through high school. This book would be excellent for a faculty discussion for a charter school that would be focused on creativity. There is little “new” research but an excellent summary of “what is.” References Bloom, B.S. (1976). Human characteristics and school learning. New York: McGraw-Hill. Binet, A., & Simon, T. (1916). The development of intelligence in children. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins (originally published in 1905). DeBono, E. (1971). Lateral thinking for management. New York: McGraw-Hill Galton F. (1869). Hereditary genius: An inquiry into its laws and Consequences. London: Macmillan. Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York: Basic Books. Sternberg, R.J. (Ed.) (1988b). The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Webster, (1997). Webster’s New World dictionary. New York: McGraw Hill. About the Reviewer Dr. June Schmieder-Ramirez is the current academic chair of the Organizational Leadership Doctoral Program at Pepperdine University. She is a full professor and past interim Associate Dean who has worked in the Education Division for eighteen years. She is also the author of several texts with Arthur Townley on school finance, law and personnel. She is also the co-author with Dr. Jack McManus of the text: The Accreditors are Coming!, The Accreditors are Coming! published by Kendall Hunt Publishing, Dubuque, Iowa.