Home > Encyclopedia of Psychology > Robert J. Sternberg

1949-
American cognitive psychologist who developed a new model of learning and intelligence.

From childhood anxiety to a career

Robert J. Sternberg was born in December 1949 in Newark, New Jersey. As a child growing up in Maple-wood, New Jersey, Sternberg suffered from a problem common to many children. An otherwise bright student, he suffered such severe anxiety when taking IQ tests that he consistently scored low. His active brain was evident when he discovered as a sixth grader re-taking a test among fifth graders that his anxiety was pointless. In seventh grade, his science project was called the "Sternberg Test of Mental Ability." He gave the test to his classmates along with the traditional Stanford-Binet intelligence scales that he had...