The standards for conducting research on topics of immediate social relevance

Applying the Theory of Successful Intelligence to Education—The Good, the Bad, and the Ogre: Commentary on Sternberg et al. (2008)

Sternberg, Grigorenko, and Zhang (2008) have presented a creative model for the application of research on intelligence and personality to education. There are many positive aspects of their effort. These include the coordination of individual differences in cognition and personality and their extension of the concept of intelligence beyond skills that can be tested in the normal testing paradigm. Although various parts of their approach have appeared elsewhere, the development of a single package containing all these ideas is a worthwhile improvement in thinking about education. They cite numerous studies in support of their efforts. However, a close examination of some of the major studies shows that this evidence, though not inconsistent with their claims, is not as strong as their review indicates. If one applies conventional psychometric criteria, simpler explanations than those they propose could be found. Their model of thinking styles is probably too complex for many practical applications. However, a good case can be made that the appropriate criterion is “How useful will this approach be in education?” By this criterion, the total package is impressive and should be seriously considered by educators.