i thought there was a clear difference between aptitude and intelligence as concepts but am growing confused as i try to understand better. is intelligence (whether specific or general)stable?

-- soul (subtlesoul@yahoo.com), July 11, 2002

Answers

*In theory* intelligence is stable. Of course, even the most committed intelligence theorist would confess that different intelligent abilities come "on-line" at different times in development, and that various organic factors (e.g., brain injury or disease) can have a negative impact on intelligence. Of course, many theorists believe that there isn't a single general intelligence, but an array of different kinds of intelligence, or indeed a pile of different cognitive "modules" that operate more or less independently of each other.

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), July 11, 2002.