We all know someone who is intelligent but appears not to have used their ability. They are not successful in whatever they have undertaken. Robert Sternberg, an American psychologist, maintains that it is necessary to have certain characteristics and to achieve a functional balance among a 'triarchy' of abilities, such as analytical, creative, and practical intelligence.
Robert Sternberg was a Professor of Psychology at Yale before taking up academic positions at several other universities. His research centred on the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence as well as what characteristics are associated with Successfully Intelligent People. Essentially, having advanced intellectual abilities is not enough. Sternberg claims that individuals must develop certain characteristics to succeed.
“Successfully intelligent people discern their strengths and weaknesses, and then figure out how to capitalise on their strengths, and to compensate for or remediate their weaknesses," Sternberg writes.
Sternberg maintains that successfully intelligent people are initiators who motivate themselves and make the most of their abilities. They are oriented towards creating a product, translating thought into action, are prepared to risk failure, don't procrastinate, and follow through to complete tasks. They focus and concentrate on achieving their goals, control their impulses, and know when to persevere so that they don't end up far from where they aim to be.
At a personal level, they reject self-pity but accept fair blame, while not having excessive, but reasonable self-confidence and belief in their ability. He writes importantly about successfully intelligent people being independent, surmounting personal difficulties (which unfortunately, are inevitable), seeing detail as well as the 'big picture' (what Sternberg refers to as “seeing the forest and the trees"). To be successful, intelligent people must also delay gratification and spread themselves optimally across tasks.
People may be born with higher levels of intelligence and have advanced capabilities, but Robert Sternberg lists important characteristics and habits that are developed over time. Françoys Gagné, in his famous Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) separates natural abilities from systematically developed skills through a unidirectional arrow, which signifies the developmental process. This aligns well with Sternberg's development of the characteristics of Successfully Intelligent People.
To become successful in whatever endeavour an intelligent individual chooses, the characteristics of successfully intelligent people must be achieved. Developing these characteristics quickly might accelerate the process; however, heightened intellectual ability, although an important prerequisite for success, is simply not sufficient without developing the characteristics found among successfully intelligent people.
© Michele Juratowitch
michele@clearingskies.com.au