Overview
Robert J. Sternberg is Professor of Psychology in the Cornell Human Ecology college at Cornell University. He was previously Provost, Senior Vice President, Regents Professor of Psychology and Education, and George Kaiser Family Foundation Chair of Ethical Leadership at Oklahoma State University. He also is Honorary Professor of Psychology at Heidelberg University.
He was previously Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Psychology and Education at Tufts University, and before that, IBM Professor of Psychology and Education, Professor of Management, and Director of the Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and Expertise at Yale University. He is a Past President of the American Psychological Association, the Eastern Psychological Association, Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and the International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology, as well as Treasurer of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. He has been Editor of Perspectives on Psychological Science, Psychological Bulletin, and The APA Review of Books: Contemporary Psychlogy. He holds 13 honorary doctorates and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education.
His awards include:
William Stern Award, Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, 2023; Florence L. Denmark Award for Significant Contributions to Psychology, Psychology Department, Pace University, 2019; Grawemeyer Award in Psychology, 2018; William James Fellow Award, Association for Psychological Science, 2017; Ernest R. Hilgard Award for Lifetime Contributions to General Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division of General Psychology (1), 2017; Distinguished Service Award, International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology, 2011; Presidential Award for Distinguished Lifetime Contributions to the Public Understanding of Psychology, American Psychological Association Division of Media Psychology (46), 2008; Sir Francis Galton Award, International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, 2008; E. Paul Torrance Award, National Association for Gifted Children, 2006; Interamerican Psychologist Award, Interamerican Society of Psychology, 2005; Arnheim Award, Division of Psychology and the Arts (10) of the American Psychological Association, 2005; Anton Jurovsky Award, Slovak Psychological Society, 2004; Arthur W. Staats Award, American Psychological Foundation and the Society for General Psychology (American Psychological Association Division 1), 2003; Farnsworth Award, Division of Psychology and the Arts (10) of the American Psychological Association, 2003; E. L. Thorndike Career Achievement Award, Division of Educational Psychology (15) of the American Psychological Association, 2003; Positive Psychology Network Distinguished Scientist and Scholar Award, 2002; Outstanding Academic Title, CHOICE (American Library Association) for International handbook of giftedness and talent, co-editor, 2001; Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Psychology Award, Connecticut Psychological Association, 1999; Palmer O. Johnson Award, American Educational Research Association, 1999; James McKeen Cattell Award, Association for Psychological Science, 1999; Distinción of Honor SEK, Institución Educativa SEK, Madrid, 1997; Sylvia Scribner Award, American Educational Research Association (Division C), 1996; International Award, Association of Portuguese Psychologists, 1991; Award for Excellence, Mensa Education and Research Foundation (MERF), 1989; Citation Classic Designation, Institute for Scientific Information for Intelligence, information processing, and analogical reasoning: The componential analysis of human abilities, 1987; Outstanding Book Award, American Educational Research Association for Beyond IQ: A triarchic theory of human intelligence, 1987; Research Review Award, American Educational Research Association (co-recipient), 1986; Distinguished Scholar Award, the National Association for Gifted Children, 1985; Cattell Award, Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology, 1982; Boyd R. McCandless Young Scientist Award, Division of Developmental Psychology (7) of the American Psychological Association, 1982; Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology, American Psychological Association, 1981; Sidney Siegel Memorial Award, Stanford University, 1975; Wohlenberg Prize, Berkeley College, Yale University, 1972.
He is a member of the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also is a member of the Society of Experimental Psychologists.
Sternberg's Google h index is 248 his i-10 index 1385, and he has been cited roughly 265,000 times in the scholarly literature.
He has been listed #1 lifetime ranking in the field of Human Development and Family Studies by ScholarGPS, 2023; He has been listed #15 in the world and #7 in the United States for “Top Scientists in the Field of Psychology” by research.com, May 2023; He is the #1 cited author over the past 10 years by global h-index corrected for self-citation and local g-index in the Journal of Intelligence; #2 in global h-index in the journal Intelligence, in which he does not regularly publish (J. Intell. b, 11(2), 35); He has been listed in the Top 25 Influential Psychologists 2010-2020; He has been listed in the top 2% of scholars in citations in the field of education by Stanford University, November 2020, ranked #3 in citations in the field of education; He has been listed as one of the "30 Most Influential Psychologists Working Today", 2019; He has been listed as one of the “The 50 Most Influential Living Psychologists” by The Best Schools, 2018; listed as one of the “Top 33 Psychologists for Psychology Textbook Citations”, Griggs & Christopher, Teaching of Psychology, 2016, 43(2), p. 114 (ranked #5); listed as one of the “Top 100 Psychologists of the 20th Century,” APA Monitor, July/August 2002, p. 29 (ranked #60); listed as one of the 200 most eminent psychologists of the modern (Post World-War II) era by Diener, Oishi, Park survey in Archives of Scientific Psychology (ranked #61); ISI Highly Cited List in Psychology/Psychiatry (2003–) (based on scientific citations 1981–1999); listed in the Esquire Register recognizing the achievements of outstanding American men and women under 40, 1986; Listed as one of the 100 “Top Young Scientists in the U.S.,” Science Digest, 1984.
Research Focus
My main research interests are in intelligence, creativity, wisdom, thinking styles, leadership, love, jealousy, envy, and hate. I have taught courses in most of these areas, as well as in cognitive psychology, educational psychology, introductory psychology, lifespan development, adolescence, and professional socialization.
We believe that there is much more to intelligence than what conventional standardized tests test. Many of my current collaborative research projects with my colleagues are on adaptive intelligence—how we use our creative, analytical, practical, and wisdom-based skills in order to make the world a better place. We have devised measures for measuring adaptive intelligence and also are interested in teaching for it. Additionally, we are doing work on transformational giftedness—how people can use their gifts to transform the world in a positive way, rather than using those gifts transactionally, merely for the benefit of themselves and members of their perceived “tribe.”
I am the author of over 2,500 publications and, as a principal investigator, have received more than $20 million in grant funding.
Publications
2024 Publications
Beckmann, J. F., Birney, D. P., & Sternberg, R. J. (2024). A novel approach to measuring an old construct: Aligning the conceptualisation and operationalisation of cognitive flexibility. Journal of Intelligence, 12 : 61. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence12060061
Chowkase, A. A., Parra Martinez, F. A., Ghahremani, M., Bernstein, Z., Finora, G. & Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Dual-process model of courage. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1376195
Desmet, O. A., & Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Innovative teaching strategies for fostering transformational creativity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2024.101543.
Goldberg, S., & Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Loving our leaders: A triangular theory of love for political figures. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, DOI: 10.1111/jasp.13067.
Niethammer, L., Sternberg, R. J., & Sternberg, K. (2024, December 23). “"Man braucht drei Elemente für vollkommene Liebe." Die Zeit Magazin, https://www.zeit.de/zeit-magazin/2024/55/robert-sternberg-beziehung-liebe-tipps-ehe?freebie=3a9b9756
Soleimani Dashtaki, A., Eskandari, H., Borjali, A., Oreyzi, H., Sternberg, R. J. (2024). How do wise leaders perform? Conceptualizing wise leadership and its styles. Management, 28(2), 529-550. https://doi.org/10.58691/man/200130
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Affirmative development of adaptive intelligence: Four errors in causal inferences about human abilities. Learning and thriving across the lifespan: The 100-Year intellectual legacy of Professor Edmund W. Gordon. In M. Chatterji, A. S. Wells, & E. W. Gordon (Eds.). Teachers College Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Creative giftedness: A systems theory of Its nature and development. Gifted Education International, 1-15. DOI: 10.1177/02614294241310782.
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Die besondere Rolle begabter Menschen im Zeitalter der generativen KI (The Special Role of Gifted Individuals in the Age of Generative AI). Labyrinth, #158, pp. 6-7, DGhK / Deutsche Gesellschaft für das Hochbegabte Kind e. V., Berlin.
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Dark intelligence: When the possibility of 1984 becomes reality. Possibility Studies and Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/27538699241267189
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Don’t worry that generative AI may compromise human creativity or intelligence in the future: It already has. Journal of Intelligence, 12(7) : 69. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence1207006
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). A duplex model of giftedness. Gifted Child Quarterly, 68(2), 91-106. https://doi.org/10.1177/00169862231217730
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Foreword to Dai, D. The Nature and Nurture of Talent: A New Foundation for Education and Optimal Human Development (pp. xi-xiv). Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Foreword to the Special Issue of Multicolors Journal, 3(1), https://en.gordon.ac.il/Uploads/media/Files/%D7%94%D7%A7%D7%93%D7%9E%D7%94%20%D7%A9%D7%9C%20Sternberg.pdf
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Intelligence. In F. Darbellay (Ed.), Elgar encyclopedia of inter- and transdisciplinarity (pp. 281-283). Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035317967.ch62
Sternberg, R.J. (2024). Novelty and usefulness are not enough: What matters more Is creative quality. In: Ivcevic, Z., Reiter-Palmon, R., Tang, M., Grohman, M.G. (eds) Crises, creativity and innovation. Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Innovation in Organizations (pp. 41-59). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61782-9_3
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Reflection: The concept of love in modern psychology. In R. Hanley (Ed.), Love: A history (pp. 311-315). New York: Oxford University Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Reality capture: Why we need transformational creativity more than ever before. In R. J. Sternberg & S. Karami (Eds.), Transformational creativity: Learning for a better future (pp. 267-281). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Reframing social and emotional development for the gifted. Behavioral Sciences, 14, 752. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14090752
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). T-ACCEL: A new model of giftedness for transformational active concerned citizenship and ethical leadership. Gifted Education International. DOI: 10.1177/02614294241246497
Sternberg, R. J. (2024) Transformational giftedness in action: Paths to positive, meaningful, and potentially enduring societal change, Roeper Review, 46(4), 292-303. DOI: 10.1080/02783193.2024.239223
Sternberg, R. (2024). What is wisdom? Sketch of a TOP (tree of philosophy) theory. Review of General Psychology, 28(1), 47-66. https://doi.org/10.1177/10892680231215433.
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Varieties of transactional and transformational creativity. In R. J.
Sternberg & S. Karami (Eds.), Transformational creativity: Learning for a better future (pp. 15-28). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave-Macmillan
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). What is intelligence, really? The futile search for a holy grail. Learning and Individual Differences, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102568.
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). What’s wrong with the world anyway? Psychological origins of a collective failure of humanity. In M. D. Matthews & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of multidisciplinary perspectives on character development. Routledge (Vol. 2, Ch. 10, pp. 193-213). DOI: 10.4324/9781003252450-12
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). WICS: The super (necessary) constraints of creativity, intelligence, and wisdom synthesized. In C. Tromp, R. J. Sternberg, & D. A. Ambrose (Eds.), Constraints in creativity: An interdisciplinary exploration (pp. 196-209). Boston, MA: Brill Publishers.
Sternberg, R. J. (2024). Wrong suffix: Gifted education for career choice should focus on “gifting” rather than on being “gifted.” Gifted Education International, https://doi.org/10.1177/02614294241233508.
Sternberg, R. J., & Karami, S. (Eds.) (2024). Transformational creativity: Learning for a better future. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Sternberg, R. J., & Karami, S. (2024). Why transformational creativity? In R. J. Sternberg & S. Karami (Eds.), Transformational creativity: Learning for a better future (pp. 1-13). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Sternberg, R. J., Landy, J., & Long, J. (2024). Measuring adaptive intelligence of the gifted through critical problem analysis. Roeper Review, https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2024.2357543.
Sternberg, R. J., Lin, S., & Nguyen E. C. K. (2024). Are “extra-curricular” activities really extra-curricular? The activities that matter least in school are the ones that best teach real-world critical and creative thinking. Journal of Intelligence, 13(1) 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13010001
Sternberg, R. J., Renzulli, J. S., & Ambrose, D. (2024) The field of giftedness—Past, present, and prospects: Insights from Joseph S. Renzulli and Robert J. Sternberg. Roeper Review, 46(3), 233-245. DOI: 10.1080/02783193.2024.2357379
Sternberg, R. J., & Soleimani Dashtaki, A. (2024). Effectivity: An alternative to conceptions of gifted under- and over-achievement. Gifted Education International, 41(2), https://doi.org/10.1177/0261429424128086
Sternberg, R. J., & Soleimani Dashtaki, A. (2024). Transformational wisdom. Possibility Studies and Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/27538699241301927
Sternberg, R. J., Soleimani Dashtaki, A., & Baydil, B. (2024). An empirical test of the concept of the adaptively intelligent attitude. Journal of Intelligence, 12(49), https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence1205004
Sternberg, R. J., Soleimani-Dashtaki, A., & Power, S. A. (2024). The Wonderland Model of toxic creativity in leadership: When the "Never Again" impossible becomes not only possible but actual. Possibility Studies and Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/2753869924127373
Sternberg, R. J., & Sternberg, K. (2024). A RELIC theory of love: The role of interpersonal, intrapersonal, and extrapersonal elements in love. Theory and Psychology, 34(5), 671-698. DOI: 10.1177/0959354324127092
Sternberg, R. J., Wong, C. H., & Baydil, B. (2024). Understanding and assessing scientific wisdom. Roeper Review, 46(4), 304-321. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2024.239223
Tromp, C., Sternberg, R. J., & Ambrose, D. A. (Eds.) (2024). Constraints in creativity: An interdisciplinary exploration. Boston, MA: Brill Publishers
Tromp, D., Sternberg, R. J., & Ambrose, D. A. (2024). Introduction. In C. Tromp, R. J. Sternberg, & D. Ambrose (Eds.), Constraints in creativity: An interdisciplinary exploration (pp. 1-3). Boston, MA: Brill Publishers
