The evolution of general intelligence

0191-8869/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. A doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.05.015 ⇑ Address: Managerial Economics and Strategy Gro ment, London School of Economics and Political Scien WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom. Tel.: +44 20 7955 7297. E-mail address: [email protected]. 1 Neither Lynn nor Rushton gave an explicit name article (Kanazawa, 2008), I called it temperature theory to this volume, Rushton (in press) calls it cold win Rushton’s name better than my own, so I will stick to c this paper. Among Richard Lynn’s numerous significant contributions to science is his cold winters theory of the evolution of general intelligence. The cold winters of Eurasia presented novel adaptive problems for our ancestors to solve, such as obtaining food by hunting large animals and keeping warm by building clothing, shelter and fire, and they functioned as strong selection pressures for higher intelligence. Empirical analyses support both Lynn’s cold winters theory and my evolutionary novelty theory of the evolution of general intelligence. Mean annual temperature and the degree of evolutionary novelty in the environment independently predict the average intelligence of the population. Both theories can also account for the observed race difference in intelligence. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.