Book Review : Measuring Intelligence Beyond IQ Tests

The Triarchic Mind: A New Theory of Human Intelligence by Robert J. Sternberg (Viking: $19.95; 354 pages)

Intelligence is one of those concepts like quicksilver; the closer you get to it, the more it moves away.

It seems self-evident that there is such a thing as intelligence. We recognize it in people all around us, and we recognize some people as more intelligent than others. But what is it exactly that we recognize? If you give someone an IQ test (or any of its functional equivalents), what is it that is being measured?

Whatever it is, there are obviously many different kinds of intelligence. IQ tests tend to correlate well with success in school, but they are not nearly as good at predicting success in life.

Different Manifestations

Some people are very good at school but not much good at anything else. Other people are very good at business but couldn’t solve a problem in algebra if their life depended on it. Some people have very good interpersonal skills but don’t score well on academic tests. What is the relationship between these various kinds of intelligence? Are they different manifestations of the same ability, or are they altogether different?

The long and short of it is that no one knows, although there are plenty of theories. Robert J. Sternberg, a psychologist at Yale University, believes that they are different skills and that IQ tests measure only one of them. Unfortunately, he says in “The Triarchic Mind,” IQ tests are often taken to measure all there is to intelligence, which does a disservice both to the individual being tested and to society, which winds up ignoring and wasting important talents.

“No test or single index can measure all or even most of the diverse intellectual skills that underlie intelligence, such as reasoning, insight and practical know-how,” Sternberg writes. “Indeed, because intelligence can involve different skills for different people, there is no single wholly appropriate test of it.”

Note that this criticism of IQ tests is different from the frequent complaint that they are culturally biased and tend to discriminate against non-whites. Sternberg’s criticism is much deeper and much less fixable. He says that even if the test-makers can eliminate cultural biases, IQ tests still won’t measure many important aspects of intelligence.

Master of Their Environment

Intelligence, he says, is not about how well people learn things in school. It has to do with how well people get on in the world, which, he says, has three parts: “adaptation of existing environments, selection of new environments and shaping of existing environments into new environments.”

“What does seem to be common among people who master their environments is the ability to capitalize on their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses,” he says. “Successful people are able not only to adapt to fit their environments but actually to modify them so as to maximize the fit.”

So far, so good, more or less. But in the middle of spinning out his theory, Sternberg includes several chapters of problem-solving techniques. His layman’s guide to intelligence becomes a self-help book in what he calls “mental self-management,” full of platitudinous advice.

“We should always be on the lookout for new ways of getting things done,” he advises. These tidbits are thrown in among a variety of little stories that are meant to set up problems that require solutions.

More Informed Decision

“Being on the lookout is crucial in shopping for a car,” he tells us. “Biff tried out various models and talked to a number of salespeople but realized that he really knew next to nothing about the quality of the different cars. He was about to base his judgment on the most convincing sales pitch. Then a friend mentioned that Consumer Reports evaluated the quality of cars feature by feature. Biff was able to make a more informed decision on the basis of this additional resource.”

A heart-warming tale, to be sure, but what is it doing in this book on intelligence? And who is this Biff? (All of the characters in Sternberg’s stories have names, presumably made up. Why bother?)

There is a good book in here struggling to be free. It’s unfortunate that Sternberg has held it back with so much extraneous material. A better editor would have helped Sternberg, the book and the readers.