The goal of this book is not only to discuss intelligence, creativity, and wisdom, but also to explore the interrelationships among them. These interrelationships can be assessed at two levels, at least based on the research we have done. The first level is that of implicit theories, the second, that of explicit theories.

IMPLICIT THEORIES

Sternberg (1985b), as mentioned earlier, assessed people's implicit theories of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom, as well as the implicit theories among these constructs. The study was done among experts and laypersons in the United States, and hence does not necessarily apply beyond this country.

Nonmetric multidimensional scaling was used to assess the dimensions for each construct. Table 8.1 shows the results of these scalings. Table 8.2 shows the intercorrelations of ratings of behaviors on a master list for different occupations of individuals. Note that there are differences in the correlations, and that, in business, creativity and wisdom show a negative correlation!

The data show that people's conceptions of intelligence overlap with, but go beyond, the skills measured by conventional intelligence tests. Thus, the problem-solving (fluid ability) and verbal-comprehension (crystallized ability) skills measured by intelligence tests appear most prominently in the dimensions of the derived implicit theory of intelligence. Thus, the intelligent individual is perceived as solving problems well, reasoning clearly, thinking logically, displaying a good vocabulary, and drawing on a large store of information – just the kinds of things conventional intelligence tests measure.