Perhaps the difficulty may li e in th e characteristics themselves. Perhaps they
simply do not exist as separate, unified , measurable abilities.
Perhaps what we
call abilities are simply categories
of tasks that have some superficial characteris
tics
in common but which cannot be dealt with effectively by the application of a
single general task-related ability.
Perhaps what they may require mainly is
knowledge
of the special context in which the tasks arise. Take problem solving
for example. The problems a physician must so
lve are likely to be quite different
from those a chess player
or a football coach or a hi ghway engineer or a theoreti
cal physicist must solve. No test
of general ability to solve problems is likely to
predict very accurately how successful a practitioner
of each of these arts or
crafts is
li kely to be. Too littl e of what makes a physician successful in problem
solving
is also likely to make the chess player, the coach, the engineer, or the
physicist successful.