Michael John Anthony Howe[1] (1940 – 2 January 2002) was a British cognitive psychologist.
He was well known as a defender of environmental influences on intelligence, and as an opponent of IQ, and he was regularly involved in the controversies surrounding that area of research (see, e.g., Howe, 1997b).
As a widely cited example of this work, with colleagues Davidson and Sloboda, he argued against the existence of innate talent, a position welcomed by some, but characterised as "absurd environmentalism" by researchers such as Douglas Detterman.
He particularly applied it to the study of musical genius and other exceptional abilities, a subject that he investigated extensively (e.g. Howe, 1990, 1999), including the abilities of "idiot savants" (e.g. Howe, 1989).
Howe formally retired in 2001 but continued his academic work without interruption.