The triarchic theory of intelligence represents a way of understanding intelligence in broader terms than is the case for traditional theories.

Intelligence is defined in terms of the ability to achieve success in life in terms of one's personal standards, within one's sociocultural context. The field of intelligence has, at times, tended to put the cart before the horse, defining the construct conceptually on the basis of how it is operationalized rather than vice versa. This practice has resulted in tests that stress the academic aspect of intelligence, as one might expect, given the origins of modern intelligence testing in the work of Binet and Simon in designing an instrument that would distinguish children who would succeed from those who would fail in school. But the ...