Table Of Content

Thinking Styles Thinking Styles Robert J. Sternberg Yale University CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521553162 © Cambridge University Press 1997 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1997 First paperback edition 1999 Reprinted 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009 A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-521-55316-2 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-65713-6 paperback Transferred to digital printing 2009 Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables and other factual information given in this work are correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter. To my children, Seth and Sara, who have taught me more useful things about styles than has anyone else, and to whom I hope I have taught some useful things as well. Contents Preface page ix Part I. The Nature of Thinking Styles 1 What Are Thinking Styles and Why Do We Need Them? 3 2 Functions of Thinking Styles: The Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Styles 27 3 Forms of Thinking Styles: The Monarchic, Hierarchic, Oligarchic, and Anarchic Styles 44 4 Levels, Scope, and Leanings of Thinking Styles: The Global, Local, Internal, External, Liberal, and Conservative Styles 60 Part II. The Principles and Development of Thinking Styles 5 The Principles of Thinking Styles 79 6 The Development of Thinking Styles 99 Part HI. Thinking Styles in School and in Research and Theory 7 Thinking Styles in the Classroom: What Have We Learned? 115 viii Contents 8 A Capsule History of Theory and Research on Styles 133 9 Why a Theory of Mental Self-government? 148 Notes 161 Index 173 Preface I've attended and been graduated from five schools: Tuscan Ele- mentary, Maplewood Junior High School, Columbia High School, Yale College, and Stanford University. I performed better in each new school than I did in the old one - sometimes a little better, other times a lot better, but always better. At the same time, I've observed other people go through their own sequence of schools, and do a little worse in each new school. We were not unusual: Some students do a bit worse each time around, others a bit better, and still others no different from the last time around. Is it random? No. Is it more (or less) effort each new time around? No. What is it? In our society, the first explanation that would come to anyone's mind would probably be abilities. Here, we see the educational system as a huge funnel; but this is a peculiar funnel, because it has a series of filters inside that allow fewer people to pass through each successive stage. Each filter, representing a school, has a different fineness of mesh. Highly selective schools are very fine-mesh filters that will let only the prime students through; slightly less selective schools are medium-mesh filters that will allow the choice students through as well; and even less selective schools are coarse filters that will allow successively less able students to get through. Abilities do not explain the phenomenon I'm talking about. If we thought in terms of funnels with filters, then we would expect almost every student to do a bit worse at each next stage of career than at the last stage of career, as the funnel becomes narrower or the filter finer. x Preface Such an explanation would not account for improved performance as the funnel narrows or the filter becomes finer. But many students do improve. There is another explanation, and it has to do with thinking styles - how we prefer to use the abilities we have. People will do better or worse at successive stages of schooling and career as the environment provides a better or worse match to people's styles of thought. In this book, I will argue that thinking styles are as important as, and arguably more important than, abilities, no matter how broadly abilities are defined. Thus, constructs of social, practical, and emotional intelli- gence, or of multiple intelligences, expand our notions of what people can do - but the construct of style expands our notion of what people prefer to do - how they capitalize on the abilities they have. When your profile of thinking styles is a good match to an environment, you thrive. When it is a bad match, you suffer. Different levels of schooling and different subject areas reward different styles, with the result that you can do better or worse as you go through school (or jobs or relationships, for that matter), depending on how your profile of styles matches up with what the environment expects and on how the en- vironment evaluates you. Similarly, different careers and levels of careers reward different styles differently. This book will be about styles and how they match up to different environments. The book is divided into three main parts. Part I is about the pro- posed theory of styles and identifies and describes 13 important think- ing styles. Part II presents the major principles of thinking styles and suggests how they originate and develop in people. Part III deals with styles of thinking and learning in the classroom, alternative theories, and what I perceive to be the advantages of the proposed theory. The collaboration of a number of people has been indispensable in the development of this book. My first collaborator on styles, Marie Mar- tin, worked with me to develop the first version of a Thinking Styles Inventory. Richard Wagner helped refine this instrument and collected some of the normative data for the refinement. I rely heavily on this refined instrument in describing the styles throughout the book, and in providing readers with self-assessments they can use. Elena Grigorenko further refined existing measures and also developed new measures.

Description:
In our society, the recognition of talent depends largely on idealized and entrenched perceptions of academic achievement and job performance. In Thinking Styles, psychologist Robert Sternberg argues that ability often goes unappreciated and uncultivated not because of lack of talent, but because of
ebook img

Thinking Styles PDF

192 Pages·1997·3.52 MB·English
by  Robert J. Sternberg
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Upgrade Premium
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Thinking Styles

Thinking Styles Thinking Styles Robert J. Sternberg Yale University CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521553162 © Cambridge University Press 1997 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1997 First paperback edition 1999 Reprinted 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009 A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-521-55316-2 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-65713-6 paperback Transferred to digital printing 2009 Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables and other factual information given in this work are correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter. To my children, Seth and Sara, who have taught me more useful things about styles than has anyone else, and to whom I hope I have taught some useful things as well. Contents Preface page ix Part I. The Nature of Thinking Styles 1 What Are Thinking Styles and Why Do We Need Them? 3 2 Functions of Thinking Styles: The Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Styles 27 3 Forms of Thinking Styles: The Monarchic, Hierarchic, Oligarchic, and Anarchic Styles 44 4 Levels, Scope, and Leanings of Thinking Styles: The Global, Local, Internal, External, Liberal, and Conservative Styles 60 Part II. The Principles and Development of Thinking Styles 5 The Principles of Thinking Styles 79 6 The Development of Thinking Styles 99 Part HI. Thinking Styles in School and in Research and Theory 7 Thinking Styles in the Classroom: What Have We Learned? 115 viii Contents 8 A Capsule History of Theory and Research on Styles 133 9 Why a Theory of Mental Self-government? 148 Notes 161 Index 173 Preface I've attended and been graduated from five schools: Tuscan Ele- mentary, Maplewood Junior High School, Columbia High School, Yale College, and Stanford University. I performed better in each new school than I did in the old one - sometimes a little better, other times a lot better, but always better. At the same time, I've observed other people go through their own sequence of schools, and do a little worse in each new school. We were not unusual: Some students do a bit worse each time around, others a bit better, and still others no different from the last time around. Is it random? No. Is it more (or less) effort each new time around? No. What is it? In our society, the first explanation that would come to anyone's mind would probably be abilities. Here, we see the educational system as a huge funnel; but this is a peculiar funnel, because it has a series of filters inside that allow fewer people to pass through each successive stage. Each filter, representing a school, has a different fineness of mesh. Highly selective schools are very fine-mesh filters that will let only the prime students through; slightly less selective schools are medium-mesh filters that will allow the choice students through as well; and even less selective schools are coarse filters that will allow successively less able students to get through. Abilities do not explain the phenomenon I'm talking about. If we thought in terms of funnels with filters, then we would expect almost every student to do a bit worse at each next stage of career than at the last stage of career, as the funnel becomes narrower or the filter finer. x Preface Such an explanation would not account for improved performance as the funnel narrows or the filter becomes finer. But many students do improve. There is another explanation, and it has to do with thinking styles - how we prefer to use the abilities we have. People will do better or worse at successive stages of schooling and career as the environment provides a better or worse match to people's styles of thought. In this book, I will argue that thinking styles are as important as, and arguably more important than, abilities, no matter how broadly abilities are defined. Thus, constructs of social, practical, and emotional intelli- gence, or of multiple intelligences, expand our notions of what people can do - but the construct of style expands our notion of what people prefer to do - how they capitalize on the abilities they have. When your profile of thinking styles is a good match to an environment, you thrive. When it is a bad match, you suffer. Different levels of schooling and different subject areas reward different styles, with the result that you can do better or worse as you go through school (or jobs or relationships, for that matter), depending on how your profile of styles matches up with what the environment expects and on how the en- vironment evaluates you. Similarly, different careers and levels of careers reward different styles differently. This book will be about styles and how they match up to different environments. The book is divided into three main parts. Part I is about the pro- posed theory of styles and identifies and describes 13 important think- ing styles. Part II presents the major principles of thinking styles and suggests how they originate and develop in people. Part III deals with styles of thinking and learning in the classroom, alternative theories, and what I perceive to be the advantages of the proposed theory. The collaboration of a number of people has been indispensable in the development of this book. My first collaborator on styles, Marie Mar- tin, worked with me to develop the first version of a Thinking Styles Inventory. Richard Wagner helped refine this instrument and collected some of the normative data for the refinement. I rely heavily on this refined instrument in describing the styles throughout the book, and in providing readers with self-assessments they can use. Elena Grigorenko further refined existing measures and also developed new measures.

Description:
In our society, the recognition of talent depends largely on idealized and entrenched perceptions of academic achievement and job performance. In Thinking Styles, psychologist Robert Sternberg argues that ability often goes unappreciated and uncultivated not because of lack of talent, but because of
See more

The list of books you might like

Upgrade Premium
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.
DMCA & Copyright: Dear all, most of the website is community built, users are uploading hundred of books everyday, which makes really hard for us to identify copyrighted material, please contact us if you want any material removed.
Copyright @ PDFdrive.to, 2022 | We love our users