- #1
Physicist5
I've been going over Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence which is the last one to have any credibility among psychometricians (but not much). Gardner's "Multiple Intelligences" or Goleman's "Emotional Intelligence" are dismissed as not having any theoretical basis. Because of this, the Left has been forced to resorting to denial that intelligence has meaning, or that races exist, etc. They have no more to say on how to raise people's intelligence so they just deny that there is such a thing. Sternberg comes dangerously close to following the same pattern, by trying to deny that intelligence has value.
Does Sternberg dismiss entirely Jensen's construct of g—or mental ability? Not really, for he states the following in "The Scientific Study of General Intelligence: Tribute to Arthur R. Jensen, edited by Helmuth Nyborg, 2003":
"The evidence in favor of a general factor of intelligence is, in one sense, overwhelming. This evidence is so well documented by Jensen that there is no need to repeat it here. One would have to be blind or intransigent not to give this evidence its due. Not only is there evidence for the internal validity of the g factor, there also is evidence for its external validity as well. Again, Jensen's documentation, as well as that of others, is scientifically impressive. The impact of Jensen's work on g to the field of psychology—in terms of both the support and the criticism it has generated—is a tribute both to Jensen and to his many ideas, including that of a general factor."
Helmuth Nyborg writes in the introduction of the above mentioned book:
"I, in fact, also asked a number of outspoken opponents of g-theory to write a chapter, and reserved a full part of the book for them, with the explicit purpose of seeking a balanced presentation of g theory. Unfortunately, I did not have much success in reaching this goal. One opponent said he had over the years had so many occasions to criticize g that he would consider it inappropriate to once more present his critical points in a book of this kind. He nobly added that his respect for Arthur Jensen was so great that he would rather see the book appear as laudatory as could be. Other opponents were rather brisk: "I do not want to contribute to such a book". Still others, such as Howard Gardner and Daniel Goleman, could neither find the time nor the motive to write a chapter. From the balance point of view, this is regrettable because science progresses best by first presenting all the pros and cons and then making an informed decision. But then again, it is a free country. Perhaps Robert Sternberg from Yale University is not directly opposing g theory, but he has his reservations, so I asked him to write a chapter for this honorary volume for Arthur Jensen. Surely he did. He paid back by comparing Arthur Jensen to a naive little boy living in his little house of g, too afraid to leave his narrow site and find out that the world outside has many more houses, that are much more interesting and, not to forget, also Sternberg's own tower! As an editor I welcomed the scientific aspects of Bob's chapter, but I must admit that it caused me personal grief to see the undeserving ad hominem remarks about Art's immaturity, in particular in a tribute such as the present. I decided, nevertheless, to include Bob's chapter, and will invite the reader to form his/her own judgment in the matter."
The above quote is a good indication of what type of person Sternberg is, but in science, one's temperament or political agenda should not be used as a means of argument. As much as possible, scientists set aside motives and personalities and concentrate on the data. But, where a pattern keeps reappearing, it is fair to also scientifically examine why certain people behave as they do, in a scientific pursuit to understand human nature and human differences.
Later I came across a chapter written by Sternberg in a book that provides a sampling of personality types and behaviors that tries to show that there are mixed blessings in say having high neuroticism, or low self-esteem (Chang, 2003). That is, many behavioral types can be beneficial or not, depending on the circumstances or context. Sternberg then was to provide an argument that high intelligence is not what it is cracked up to be, or at least as it is presented by Jensenists. In my opinion, he has done little more than create out of whole cloth subsets of general intelligence that just do not exist, as I will explain.
From his attack on Jensen, as well as what he has written elsewhere and here, he falls nicely into the group of intelligence detractors that are not happy with a non-Marxist, non-egalitarian approach to science. He states in his article that:
"[W]isdom probably is best developed through the incorporation of dialectical thinking into one's processing of problems. The essence of dialectical thinking is that most problems in the world do not have right or wrong answers, but better or worse ones, and what is seen as a good answer can vary with time and place. With respect to time, it involves the recognition that ideas evolve over time through an ongoing, unending process of thesis followed by antithesis followed by synthesis, with the synthesis in turn becoming the next thesis. When dialectical thinking occurs with respect to place (or space), it involves the recognition that at a given point in time, people may have diverging viewpoints on problems that seem uniquely valid or at least reasonable to them."
Clearly, Marxism is alive and well in our academic institutions, because to yield to science alone opens the door to eugenics, genetic engineering, inequality, hierarchy, libertarianism, and all manner of evil. To Sternberg and those like him, the world can only be saved if we reject science for a system of moralizing gods that do not tread on certain subjects—they must be relegated to a religious faith of some sort in a secular world. It is a reflection of the kind of thinking we see taking place over the Iraq war, where little time or effort is made in trying to understand human behavior—"it will be our way or no way, let the cleansing begin."
Sternberg's argument against general intelligence is a simple one—researchers have not gone far enough to uncover two aspects that have been hidden: creativity and wisdom. Let's see how valid his assertions are that these should be included as facets, or as he calls it, the triarchic theory of intelligence.
The first one is quite easy to dispense with. Creativity has been recognized as valuable, but it is hard to measure and this has been an accepted fact. But it also has been researched extensively, and recent data places creativity clearly in the category of a behavioral trait, even if it is one that has more potency when it is accompanied by intelligence. That is, a person can be creative and stupid, but they will never be a rocket scientist. All Sternberg shows is what everyone in psychometrics already knows: intelligence is a necessary but not sufficient trait in order to achieve great success in those endeavors that require intelligence—which is just about everything outside of athletics.
Sternberg correctly points out that many geniuses never amount to anything, and he uses that observation to draw an incorrect assumption that therefore there must be more to intelligence! It is an odd assertion, because the absence of greatness in many geniuses has been noted for many years and discussed. Simply put, having high intelligence gives you the ability to reason, but not the drive to reason and produce. Intelligent people, like stupid people, can be unmotivated. Behind intelligence, conscientiousness is the second most important behavioral trait that leads to success. All this means is that there are all kinds of personality traits, styles of nurturing, and life circumstances that lead a few people to strive for achievement while most people accept far less of themselves; quite normal really.
[continued on next post]
Does Sternberg dismiss entirely Jensen's construct of g—or mental ability? Not really, for he states the following in "The Scientific Study of General Intelligence: Tribute to Arthur R. Jensen, edited by Helmuth Nyborg, 2003":
"The evidence in favor of a general factor of intelligence is, in one sense, overwhelming. This evidence is so well documented by Jensen that there is no need to repeat it here. One would have to be blind or intransigent not to give this evidence its due. Not only is there evidence for the internal validity of the g factor, there also is evidence for its external validity as well. Again, Jensen's documentation, as well as that of others, is scientifically impressive. The impact of Jensen's work on g to the field of psychology—in terms of both the support and the criticism it has generated—is a tribute both to Jensen and to his many ideas, including that of a general factor."
Helmuth Nyborg writes in the introduction of the above mentioned book:
"I, in fact, also asked a number of outspoken opponents of g-theory to write a chapter, and reserved a full part of the book for them, with the explicit purpose of seeking a balanced presentation of g theory. Unfortunately, I did not have much success in reaching this goal. One opponent said he had over the years had so many occasions to criticize g that he would consider it inappropriate to once more present his critical points in a book of this kind. He nobly added that his respect for Arthur Jensen was so great that he would rather see the book appear as laudatory as could be. Other opponents were rather brisk: "I do not want to contribute to such a book". Still others, such as Howard Gardner and Daniel Goleman, could neither find the time nor the motive to write a chapter. From the balance point of view, this is regrettable because science progresses best by first presenting all the pros and cons and then making an informed decision. But then again, it is a free country. Perhaps Robert Sternberg from Yale University is not directly opposing g theory, but he has his reservations, so I asked him to write a chapter for this honorary volume for Arthur Jensen. Surely he did. He paid back by comparing Arthur Jensen to a naive little boy living in his little house of g, too afraid to leave his narrow site and find out that the world outside has many more houses, that are much more interesting and, not to forget, also Sternberg's own tower! As an editor I welcomed the scientific aspects of Bob's chapter, but I must admit that it caused me personal grief to see the undeserving ad hominem remarks about Art's immaturity, in particular in a tribute such as the present. I decided, nevertheless, to include Bob's chapter, and will invite the reader to form his/her own judgment in the matter."
The above quote is a good indication of what type of person Sternberg is, but in science, one's temperament or political agenda should not be used as a means of argument. As much as possible, scientists set aside motives and personalities and concentrate on the data. But, where a pattern keeps reappearing, it is fair to also scientifically examine why certain people behave as they do, in a scientific pursuit to understand human nature and human differences.
Later I came across a chapter written by Sternberg in a book that provides a sampling of personality types and behaviors that tries to show that there are mixed blessings in say having high neuroticism, or low self-esteem (Chang, 2003). That is, many behavioral types can be beneficial or not, depending on the circumstances or context. Sternberg then was to provide an argument that high intelligence is not what it is cracked up to be, or at least as it is presented by Jensenists. In my opinion, he has done little more than create out of whole cloth subsets of general intelligence that just do not exist, as I will explain.
From his attack on Jensen, as well as what he has written elsewhere and here, he falls nicely into the group of intelligence detractors that are not happy with a non-Marxist, non-egalitarian approach to science. He states in his article that:
"[W]isdom probably is best developed through the incorporation of dialectical thinking into one's processing of problems. The essence of dialectical thinking is that most problems in the world do not have right or wrong answers, but better or worse ones, and what is seen as a good answer can vary with time and place. With respect to time, it involves the recognition that ideas evolve over time through an ongoing, unending process of thesis followed by antithesis followed by synthesis, with the synthesis in turn becoming the next thesis. When dialectical thinking occurs with respect to place (or space), it involves the recognition that at a given point in time, people may have diverging viewpoints on problems that seem uniquely valid or at least reasonable to them."
Clearly, Marxism is alive and well in our academic institutions, because to yield to science alone opens the door to eugenics, genetic engineering, inequality, hierarchy, libertarianism, and all manner of evil. To Sternberg and those like him, the world can only be saved if we reject science for a system of moralizing gods that do not tread on certain subjects—they must be relegated to a religious faith of some sort in a secular world. It is a reflection of the kind of thinking we see taking place over the Iraq war, where little time or effort is made in trying to understand human behavior—"it will be our way or no way, let the cleansing begin."
Sternberg's argument against general intelligence is a simple one—researchers have not gone far enough to uncover two aspects that have been hidden: creativity and wisdom. Let's see how valid his assertions are that these should be included as facets, or as he calls it, the triarchic theory of intelligence.
The first one is quite easy to dispense with. Creativity has been recognized as valuable, but it is hard to measure and this has been an accepted fact. But it also has been researched extensively, and recent data places creativity clearly in the category of a behavioral trait, even if it is one that has more potency when it is accompanied by intelligence. That is, a person can be creative and stupid, but they will never be a rocket scientist. All Sternberg shows is what everyone in psychometrics already knows: intelligence is a necessary but not sufficient trait in order to achieve great success in those endeavors that require intelligence—which is just about everything outside of athletics.
Sternberg correctly points out that many geniuses never amount to anything, and he uses that observation to draw an incorrect assumption that therefore there must be more to intelligence! It is an odd assertion, because the absence of greatness in many geniuses has been noted for many years and discussed. Simply put, having high intelligence gives you the ability to reason, but not the drive to reason and produce. Intelligent people, like stupid people, can be unmotivated. Behind intelligence, conscientiousness is the second most important behavioral trait that leads to success. All this means is that there are all kinds of personality traits, styles of nurturing, and life circumstances that lead a few people to strive for achievement while most people accept far less of themselves; quite normal really.
[continued on next post]