Criteria for Competence

Part  I

Metatheoretical Issues

The three chapters that form this first section help to situate the other contributions that follow by making clear the range of alternative meanings commonly attached to the concept of competence and by offering opinions about the relative merits of these competing views. In each case, these authors proceed by winnowing away what they deem to be counterproductive readings of the competence-performance relation and by advocating in their place what they hold up as more coherent alternatives. Although importantly different in detail, the shared message contained in these chapters is that any attempt to construe psychological competence as some hidden mechanical cause secreted away within the private inner workings ...