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Why g is not an adaptation: a comment on Kanazawa (2004).

Borsboom D, Dolan CV

Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Roeterstraat 15, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. d.borsboom@uva.nl

In S. Kanazawa's evolutionary theory of general intelligence (g), g is presented as a species-typical information-processing mechanism. This conceptualization of g departs radically from the accepted conceptualization of g as a source of individual differences that is manifest in the positive manifold. Kanazawa's theory is thus problematic in the sense that it concerns a purely hypothetical, and empirically unsupported, conceptualization of g. The authors argue that an evolutionary account of g should address it as a source of individual differences--that is, in a manner that is consistent with the empirical support for g.

Published 26 April 2006 in Psychol Rev, 113(2): 433-7.
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