Wisdom, Love, Hate, and Creativity

What do they have in common? They've all been studied by Dr. Robert Sternberg

Dr. Robert Sternberg is one of the best-known psychologists in the world. His publications have been cited over 250,000 times! Holy Moley! He’s been doing research for 50 years, and in that time, he’s published research on intelligence, creativity, wisdom, thinking styles, giftedness, leadership, ethics, love, jealousy, envy, and hate. And probably something else that he forgot to tell me about!

The 18th episode of THE SCIENCE OF CREATIVITY is my interview with with Dr. Robert Sternberg. I asked him what hate, love, and creativity have in common, and he joked: “I study things that I’m bad at, and these are all things I’m bad at.” Right after that, he told me a personal story about a relationship that ended badly. Then he explained his “theory of love” and the “love triangle” (it’s not what you think!). His theory of love explains why your romantic relationship is the way it is. I learned a lot from our interview and I think you’ll get a lot out of it, too.

Dr. Sternberg is a professor of psychology at Cornell University. He’s done groundbreaking scientific research on the most important issues in human existence, including studies of wisdom, love, hate, leadership, and of course, creativity. Dr. Sternberg is known for reforming college admissions requirements to include measures of creativity, which he did while a dean at both Tufts University and at Oklahoma State University. He’s published literally thousands of books and scientific articles. Our interview touches on topics that give our life meaning, including love, wisdom, and creativity. Dr. Sternberg’s research represents the best that we have in the science of creativity.

Here’s what ChatGPT says about his 250,000 citations:

Dr. Sternberg is one of the most influential and highly cited researchers across all disciplines, not just psychology. 250,000 citations puts him in the top .01 percent of psychologists worldwide. This is exceptionally rare. He is a field-defining figure whose work has shaped foundational theories and methodologies.

I’ve looked up to Dr. Sternberg for my entire career, because way back in 1995, my second scientific article was published in a book that he edited: The Nature of Insight. My article, published with Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is titled “Creative insight: The social dimension of a solitary moment.” That means that I’ve been reading Dr. Sternberg’s research for thirty years. And yet, even after reading so many of his books and articles, I still learned a lot from our interview on THE SCIENCE OF CREATIVITY.