s. Three intellectual skills are
particularly important (Sternberg, 1985): (a) the synthetic
skill to see problems in new ways and to escape
the bounds of conventional thinking, (b) the analytic
skill to recognize which of one’s ideas are worth pursuing
and which are not, and (c) the practical–contextual
skill to know how to persuade others of—to sell other
people on—the value of one’s ideas. The confluence of
these three skills is also important. Analytic skills used
in the absence of the other two skills results in powerful
critical, but not creative, thinking. Synthetic skill
used in the absence of the other two skills results in
new ideas that are not subjected to the scrutiny required
to improve them and make them work. Practical–contextual
skill in the absence of the other two skills may
result in societal acceptance of ideas not because the
ideas are good, but rather, because the ideas have been
well and powerfully presented