What Is 'Successful' Intelligence?

By Robert J. Sternberg

The style of intelligence that schools most readily recognize as smart may well be less useful to many students in their adult lives than creative and practical intelligence.

Robert J. Sternberg, a professor of psychology and education at Yale University, argues in his new book, Successful Intelligence: How Practical and Creative Intelligence Determine Success in Life , that appreciating the differences between knowledge useful in school and knowledge applicable to everyday life should inform the way educators and laymen alike judge the potential of the young. Those people who succeed, he says, have managed to develop a wide range of intellectual skills beyond those taught and valued in academic life. In the following excerpt, he explores the three critical elements of creative and practical intelligence:

Jack, who considers himself smartest in his class, likes to make fun of Irvin, the boy he has identified as stupidest in the class. Jack pulls aside his friend Tom and says, "You want to see what 'stupid' means, Tom? Watch this ... Hey, Irvin. Here are two coins. Take whichever one...