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      • What is r?
      • What is rL?
      • Why are r and rL important?
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What is r?

Thecollection of generic attitudes and capabilities that enable people to flourish in complicated, challenging and uncertain situations throughout life. (r is our alternative to g - the abbreviation for ‘general intelligence’ used to describe the kinds of supposedly fixed, abstract, disembedded reasoning and problem-solving skills often scored by IQ tests).

The idea that human intelligence is inherently immutable and rational is under attack from many quarters.

We know, for example, that:

• A person’s intelligence reflects their history as much as their genetic endowments
• Environments such as schools influence not just the knowledge and skills that young people acquire but the capacities they develop
• Measured IQ does not reliably correlate with real-world learning and problem-solving ability
• Even academic progress is predicted more strongly by qualities such as self-discipline and determination than by IQ

New models of human intelligence are appearing that emphasise:

• The learnability of intelligence itself
• The central role of intelligence in creative, practical and real-world learning, rather than just in intellectual problem-solving
• The existence of substantial forms of human intelligence that operate outside consciousness and conscious control
• The ecological dependence of human intelligence on distributed tools and resources
• The highly social and cultural nature of intelligence
• The multi-componential (‘orchestral’) rather than monolithic (‘solo instrument’) nature of intelligence

The interdependent set of capacities and attitudes that underpin rL, some candidates for which were outlined in the previous section, can therefore be seen as an important form of r, and as offering a contribution to the revitalised study of human intelligence in general.

Responding to the complex, dynamic vicissitudes of twenty-first century life requires much more than cleverness with words or sums. A richer conception of human intelligence is needed to do justice to real-world action and decision-making.

We call this r and we will be working with individuals and organisations to increase our understanding of it.