page_title: Triarchic theory of intelligence
section_title: Different components of information processing
hierarchical_section_title: Triarchic theory of intelligence / Different components of information processing
caption_attribution_description: Figure legend in source article (CC-by-2.0): "Sternberg Paradigm. Schematic illustrating one trial of each stimulus pool in the Sternberg task: letter, word, object, spatial, grating. Also shown are stimulus class definitions. The time interval from the moment the subject depressed the advance key until the onset of the fixation stimulus was 400 ms; we therefore used this 400-ms interval as our baseline stimulus class (not labeled). The fixation stimulus class (labeled Fixation) covers the time interval starting at the presentation of an asterisk and ending just before the presentation of the first study item. The encoding stimulus class (labeled Encoding) is the time interval covering the presentation of the 3 study items (labeled 1st, 2nd, 3rd) including the 500-ms interval following the disappearance of the third study item (labeled Retention). The time interval covering the start of the presentation of the first item and ending with the presentation of the third item is referred to as the study interval. The encoding stimulus class therefore contains two intervals: the study interval followed by the retention interval. The probe stimulus class (labeled Probe) is the time interval starting with the onset of the probe stimulus and ending with the subject's response. The response stimulus class started with the onset of subject response and ended 1 sec later, well before the start of the next trial (not labeled)."
context_page_description: The Triarchic Theory of Intelligence or Three Forms of Intelligence was formulated by Robert Sternberg, a prominent figure in research of human intelligence. The theory by itself was among the first to go against the psychometric approach to intelligence and take a more cognitive approach, which leaves it to the category of the cognitive-contextual theories. The three meta components are also called triarchic components.
  Sternberg's definition of human intelligence is " mental activity directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection and shaping of, real-world environments relevant to one's life". Thus, Sternberg viewed intelligence as how well an individual deals with environmental changes throughout their lifespan. Sternberg's theory comprises three parts: componential, experiential, and practical.
context_section_description: Sternberg associated the workings of the mind with a series of components. These components he labeled the metacomponents, performance components, and knowledge-acquisition components.
  The metacomponents are executive processes used in problem solving and decision making that involve the majority of managing our mind. They tell the mind how to act. Metacomponents are also sometimes referred to as a homunculus. A homunculus is a fictitious or metaphorical "person" inside our head that controls our actions, and which is often seen to invite an infinite regress of homunculi controlling each other.
  Sternberg's next set of components, performance components, are the processes that actually carry out the actions the metacomponents dictate. These are the basic processes that allow us to do tasks, such as perceiving problems in our long-term memory, perceiving relations between objects, and applying relations to another set of terms.
  The last set of components, knowledge-acquisition components, are used in obtaining new information. These components complete tasks that involve selectively choosing relevant information from a mix of information, some of it relevant and some of it irrelevant. These components can also be used to selectively combine the various pieces of information they have gathered. Gifted individuals are proficient in using these components because they are able to learn new information at a greater rate.
  Whereas Sternberg explains that the basic information processing components underlying the three parts of his triarchic theory are the same, different contexts and different tasks require different kinds of intelligence.
caption: Schematic illustrating one trial of each stimulus pool in the Sternberg task: letter, word, object, spatial, grating.
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