A Triarchic Analysis of an Aptitude-Treatment Interaction

Abstract

Summary: This article describes a triarchic analysis of an aptitude-treatment interaction in a college-level introductory-psychology course given to selected high-school students. Of the 326 total participants, 199 were selected to be high in analytical, creative, or practical abilities, or in all three abilities, or in none of the three abilities. The selected students were placed in a course that either well matched or did not match their pattern of analytical, creative, and practical abilities. All students were assessed for memory, analytical, creative, and practical achievement. The data showed an aptitude-treatment interaction between students' varied ability patterns and the match or mismatch of these abilities to the different instructional groups.

Testing the theory of successful intelligence in teaching grade 4 language arts, mathematics, and science.

“…Most important, SI research has helped to provide a way of showing that if students are taught in a way that fits their ability profiles, they will achieve at higher levels and be better able to leverage their diverse skills (Sternberg et al, 1999).…”

Intellectual giftedness: Economic, political, cultural, and psychological considerations

“…However, if IG is defined in multiple domains, even at the same high threshold, given that performance in these multiple domains does not correlate perfectly, by definition, the gates into gifted education will be open wider. For example, for Sternberg's three abilities (see Sternberg, this issue), the estimate for the amount of shared variance from a typical study (Sternberg, Grigorenko, Ferrari & Clinkenbeard, 1999) is ∼25%. Thus, if three abilities (rather than one) are considered, then ∼2.5% (rather than 1%) of the population will be identified.…”

Activating positive affective experiences in the classroom: “Nice to have” or something more?

“…In contrast to the operationalisation of competence level via, for instance, a general mathematics test, the use of a task-specific pretest holds the decisive advantage that "aptitude" (cognitive preconditions with regard to the Pythagorean theorem) and "treatment" (Introduction to the Pythagorean theorem) are better aligned with one another in thematic terms (seeKalyuga, 2007;Sternberg, Grigorenko, Ferrari, & Clinkenbeard, 1999).…”