ON MODELS AND MUDDLES OF HERITABILITY

One reason for the astonishing persistence of the IQ myth in the face of overwhelming prior and posterior odds against it may be the unbroke n chain of excessive heritability claims for 'intelligence', which IQ tests are supposed to 'measure'. However, if, as some critics insist, 'intelligence' is undefined, and Spearman's g is beset with numerous p roblems, not the least of which is universal rejection of Spearman's m odel by the data, then how can the heritability of 'intelligence' exce ed that of milk production of cows and egg production of hens? The the sis of the present review paper is that the answer to this riddle has two parts: (a) the technical basis of heritability claims for human be havior is just as shaky as that of Spearman's g. For example, a once w idely used 'heritability estimate' turns out to be mathematically inva lid, while another such estimate, though mathematically valid, never f its any data; and (b) valid technical criticisms of flawed heritabilit y claims typically are met with stubborn editorial resistance in the m ain stream journals, which tends to calcify such misinformation.