The hazards of using correlational evidence as a means of identifying the causes of individual ability differences: A rejoinder to Sternberg and a reply to Miles

Abstract

It is argued that the evidence cited by R. J. Sternberg fails to substantiate his view that the existence of correlations between intelligence test scores and performance at tasks which depend on various intellectual abilities indicates that a measure of someone's intelligence identifies the reasons that cause a person's score to reach a certain level. Therefore, measures of intelligence serve only a descriptive function: they cannot be said to explain, or identify the causes of, individual differences in ability. As T. R. Miles points out, there are a number of ways in which the status of the concept of intelligence restricts its role in scientific research.