WHAT IS COGNITION (AGAIN)?

O

ne of the prob lems of allowing ideology to cloud our science—of

grading every one according to social perceptions of brain power—

is that it has obscured relations between brain and cognition. As I

mentioned in chapter 1, psy chol ogy is currently unclear about where to

put itself in relation to neuroscience, even entertaining the suggestion

that brain studies will make psy chol ogy redundant altogether. Cognitive

intelligence is considered to be the most impor tant aspect of human po-

tential, yet the confusion has put a brake on theoretical pro gress, so that

its true nature remains obscure. Th ose who speak most strongly about

cognitive diff erences among individuals seem to evade this fact.

For example, in their widely used book, Behavioral Ge ne tics, Robert

Plomin and colleagues obviously skirt the issue. Th ey tell us that “a gen-

eral test of intelligence is a composite of diverse tests of cognitive ability,”

that it is “a quantitative dimension,” which means that it is “continuously

distributed in the familiar bell- shaped curve, with most people in the

middle and fewer people toward the extremes.” Th ey tell us that the cor-

relations between the diverse tests suggest that cognitive diff erences can

be attributed to a general ability called g and remind us that “g is widely

accepted as a valuable concept by experts.” But, they go on to say, “it is

less clear what g is.”^1

Th at might incline you to question the experts a little more. It should

be clear what we are valuing, especially if we are going to draw strong

conclusions from it about people’s genes, brains, and potential. But when

7. A CREATIVE COGNITION

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