The Nature of Intelligence

Evolutionary psychology and behavioural genetics are two successfuland important fields in the study of human behaviour, butpractitioners in these subjects have different conceptions of thenature of human intelligence. Evolutionary psychologists disputethe existence of general intelligence and emphasise thedifferences among species. They argue that natural andsexual selection would be expected to produce intelligences thatare specialised for particular domains, as encountered byparticular species. Behavioural geneticists consider generalintelligence to be the most fundamental aspect of intelligence andconcentrate on the differences between individuals of the samespecies.
This exciting book features papers and discussion contributionsfrom leading behavioural geneticists, evolutionary psychologistsand experts on intelligence that explore the differences and thetensions between these two approaches. The nature of 'g' or generalintelligence is discussed in detail, as is the issue of theheritability of intelligence. The alternative approaches thatemphasise domain-specific intelligences are explored,alongside wide-ranging discussions on a broad range of issues suchas the biological basis for intelligence, animal models and changesin IQ scores over time.