Adaptive Intelligence Surviving and Thriving in Times of Uncertainty

Adaptive Intelligence is a dramatic reappraisal and reframing of the concept of human intelligence. In a sweeping analysis, Robert J. Sternberg argues that we are using a fatally-flawed, outdated conception of intelligence; one which may promote technological advancement, but which has also accelerated climate change, pollution, the use of weaponry, and inequality. Instead of focusing on the narrow academic skills measured by standardized tests, societies should teach and assess adaptive intelligence, defined as the use of collective talent in service of the common good. This book describes why the outdated notion of intelligence persists, what adaptive intelligence is, and how it could lead humankind on a more positive path.

Dedication; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. What is intelligence? A panoply of views; 3. Intelligence as the broad ability to adapt to the environment; 4. Why general intelligence may be unhelpful, or detrimental, in times of instability, and for that matter, other times as well; 5. History of the theory of adaptive intelligence; 6. Measurement and teaching of adaptive intelligence; 7. Why do people persist in species-suicidal beliefs and practices and what's to be done?; 8. The great adaptive intelligence test.

Robert J. Sternberg is Professor of Human Development at Cornell University and Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He is a past winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology, and the William James and James McKeen Cattell Awards of the Association for Psychological Science.