General intelligence does not help us understand cognitive evolution

Shuker, David M.; Barrett, Louise; Dickins, Thomas E.; Scott-Phillips, Thom C.; Barton, Robert A.

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.

Citation

Shuker, D. M., Barrett, L., Dickins, T. E., Scott-Phillips, T. C., & Barton, R. A. (2017). General intelligence does not help us understand cognitive evolution. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, Article e218. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x16001771

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 11, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Aug 15, 2017
• Publication Date: 2017
• Deposit Date: Oct 23, 2017
• Journal: Behavioral and Brain Sciences
• Print ISSN: 0140-525X
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-1825
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 40
• Article Number: e218
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x16001771