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General intelligence does not help us understand cognitive evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2017

David M. Shuker ,
Louise Barrett ,
Thomas E. Dickins ,
Thom C. Scott-Phillips  and
Robert A. Barton
David M. Shuker
Affiliation:
School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9TH, United [email protected]://insects.st-andrews.ac.uk/
Louise Barrett
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4, [email protected]://directory.uleth.ca/users/louise.barrett
Thomas E. Dickins
Affiliation:
School of Science & Technology, University of Middlesex, London NW4 4BT, United [email protected]://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/profile/dickins-tom
Thom C. Scott-Phillips
Affiliation:
Evolutionary Anthropology Research Group, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United [email protected]@durham.ac.ukhttps://thomscottphillips.wordpress.comhttps://www.dur.ac.uk/anthropology/staff/academic/?id=122
Robert A. Barton
Affiliation:
Evolutionary Anthropology Research Group, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United [email protected]@durham.ac.ukhttps://thomscottphillips.wordpress.comhttps://www.dur.ac.uk/anthropology/staff/academic/?id=122
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Abstract

Burkart et al. conflate the domain-specificity of cognitive processes with the statistical pattern of variance in behavioural measures that partly reflect those processes. General intelligence is a statistical abstraction, not a cognitive trait, and we argue that the former does not warrant inferences about the nature or evolution of the latter.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e218
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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References

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