Human Intelligence as Adaptation: An Ethological Approach
William R. Charlesworth
Abstract
What follows is an attempt to apply ethology (the study of the habits and characteristics of animals in their natural habitats from an evolutionary viewpoint) to the phenomenon of human intelligence. Such an application cannot be optimal in the space permitted, nor totally professional. The author has not completed all the training needed to develop the full range of methodological and conceptual skills necessary to apply the ethological approach to something as complex as human intelligence. Nevertheless, a start in this direction must be made. The present state of our knowledge and the great personal and social implications of intelligence testing today make it necessary for psychologists to broaden their approach to intelligence. Opening their doors to other disciplines such as ethology, in the author’s estimation, is one way to achieve this.