Several common assumptions about human intelligence are challenged in this paper. The "bucket" theory of intelligence describes intelligence as a stable psychological characteristic which affects learning, and which, when accurately measured, predicts an individual's learning capacity. The authors reject the idea that people who have high achievement necessarily do so because they are more capable than others. The human capacity myth, which perpetuates self-fulfilling prophecy, is called unreasonable because learners do not necessarily always perform up to their capacities, nor are such abilities unchanging. Alternative perspectives of learning are examined: (1) most people have equal innate neurological capacity but learn differently due to differences in skill, motivation, or knowledge; (2) people have different innate capacities, but learning differences are the result of classical conditioning or reinforcement; and (3) heredity and environment interact to influence ability, but these differences in ability, especially as measured by intelligence tests, are too narrow to account for variations in learning. An historical review of other research which has criticized the concept of fixed intelligence and intelligence testing is also included. (GDC)