Although the level of someone's intelligence is frequently put forward as being a possible reason for that person's success or failure at intellectual tasks, intelligence level is in reality only a descriptive measure, not an explanatory concept. Ten conceivable states of affairs are described, which if proved to contribute to or be indicated by measured intelligence would legitimize the assertion that a statement about someone's intelligence can help to explain their degree of success at mental tasks. These are that level of intelligence is reliably related to (1) observable physiological variables, (2) variability in basic mental processing mechanisms, (3) the capacity to learn or remember, (4) fundamental thinking skills, (5) the ability to reason abstractly, (6) the complexity of a person's cognitive functioning, (7) adaptability or mental flexibility, (8) executive controlling functions, or (9) unspecified biological mechanisms, or (10) that indications of measured intelligence level precisely identify intellectual qualities that an individual possesses. The evidence fails to provide firm confirmation of the existence of any of these 10 states of affairs, indicating that measures of intelligence level have little or no explanatory value.
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