INTRODUCTION

Questions concerning the relationships among an individual's innate abilities, learned competencies, and potential for success (for example, as measured by assessed level of expertise) in a given domain are important to theorists of human cognition and behavior; such questions are also germane to educators, policy makers, employers, and others who wish to make informed decisions that will both maximize human potential and make the most effective use of limited resources. In our view, a fundamental challenge inheres in any attempt to understand how an individual's unique profile of capabilities relates to possible future outcomes (for example, in terms of ultimate success within a domain). One must be able to parse the space of human biopsychological capacities (abilities), as well as the space of culturally valued knowledge and skills (competencies) that comprise domains, in such a way that the proposed link is predictive of success without being unnecessarily over-prescriptive. Most individuals could succeed in any of a number of domains, and many factors other than sheer ability determine this space of possibilities; any theorist seeking to link abilities to potential for expertise in one or more domains should seek to do so within these parameters. In particular, these considerations rule out the possibility of correlating individual ability profiles with suitable careers or jobs in anything approximating a one-to-one manner.