Men Smarter Than Women?

[seer]

Men are more intelligent than women by about five IQ points on average, making them better suited for tasks of high complexity, according to the authors of a paper due to be published in the British Journal of Psychology.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117...81-401,00.html

Why do people get so upset about this basic biological fact? It seems quite reasonable since men's brains, are generally, 10% larger than women's...

Any thoughts?

[Nicholas]

Why do people get so upset about this basic biological fact? It seems quite reasonable since men's brains, are generally, 10% larger than women's...

Any thoughts?

Firstly, I've seen instances that seem to show the opposite, and secondly, from what I understand, it's not technically the brain size that matters, it's more about the brain to body ratio and the "folds" in the brain.

[seer]

Firstly, I've seen instances that seem to show the opposite, and secondly, from what I understand, it's not technically the brain size that matters, it's more about the brain to body ratio and the "folds" in the brain.

I doubt if there is any genuine evidence that shows the opposite. This study is quite clear:

Genetic differences in intelligence between the sexes helped explain why many more men than women won Nobel Prizes or became chess grandmasters, the study by Paul Irwing and Richard Lynn concludes.

They showed that men outnumbered women in increasing numbers as intelligence levels rose. There were twice as many with IQ scores of 125, typical for people with first-class degrees.

When scores rose to 155, associated with genius, there were 5.5 men for every woman.

Dr Irwing, a senior lecturer in organisational psychology at Manchester University, said he was uncomfortable with the findings. However, he said, the evidence was clear, despite the insistence of many academics that there were no meaningful gender differences in levels of intelligence.

[Nicholas]

I doubt if there is any genuine evidence that shows the opposite. This study is quite clear:

What about the cases where women are smarter than men?

[seer]

What about the cases where women are smarter than men?

Sure, I bet most gals are smarter than me. They still confuse me to this day. But we are speaking in general overall terms...

[Nicholas]

Sure, I bet most gals are smarter than me. They still confuse me to this day. But we are speaking in general overall terms...

I hate those types of in general overall terms, because a weakness in one area might then bring down their overall scoring. Womens brains might be better suited for certain things and mens might be better suited to others, just like certain inviduals are smarter in certain topics than others. And in some cases someone might be just as good at something as someone else except they can't express what they know or understand as easily.

I'm not saying that we should ignore the study completely, but how smart we consider someone can change depending on what skills we look at.

[Jedidiah]

What about the cases where women are smarter than men?

The point here is that the average himan male is slightly smarter than the average female. This does not carry a very strong level of correlation and cannot be applied to individuals.

The same is true of hight. Tall people are supposedly (read this years ago - no backup) slightly smarter than short people. Again it does not apply to individual cases.

Jed

[TheOneAndOnly]

Are IQ tests the measure of intelligence? In the UK, girls routinely walk all over boys in exams taken at 16 and 18 years old.

[Nicholas]

The point here is that the average himan male is slightly smarter than the average female. This does not carry a very strong level of correlation and cannot be applied to individuals.

The same is true of hight. Tall people are supposedly (read this years ago - no backup) slightly smarter than short people. Again it does not apply to individual cases.

I understand that, but my point is that intelligence can be subjective, people are good at different things, and in the case of men and women, men and women might on average be better at different things, so if those types of possible strengths and weaknesses might need to be taken into account.

[Ryokan]

The way I understand it, men have a higher average IQ, and women a higher median IQ. Men are more likely to be extremely intelligent, or extremely dull. SO while on average men are smarter than women, your average man is dumber than your average woman.

[grmorton]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117...81-401,00.html

Why do people get so upset about this basic biological fact? It seems quite reasonable since men's brains, are generally, 10% larger than women's...

Any thoughts?

Given that my wife gets to stay home and do what she wants and I have to go to work and do what my boss says to do, I strongly suspect she is smarter than I. But I may not be smart enough to know that.

[geochron]

The way I understand it, men have a higher average IQ, and women a higher median IQ. Men are more likely to be extremely intelligent, or extremely dull. SO while on average men are smarter than women, your average man is dumber than your average woman.

This is the smartest comment I've read on the work anywhere. The report is based on a so far unpublished paper, so it's hard to get at the details. But it's clear from the BBC story that the distribution of IQ among men and women is different so simply comparing an average is invalid.

[Jedidiah]

This is the smartest comment I've read on the work anywhere. The report is based on a so far unpublished paper, so it's hard to get at the details. But it's clear from the BBC story that the distribution of IQ among men and women is different so simply comparing an average is invalid.

Not to mention that the difference is not all that pronounced. How long have we been doing IQ tests, after all.

[Spiderman&Co.]

I strongly believe that men are smarter than women...but for some reason I haven't met many women who agree with me...of course, the ones that do agree with me are the women that always outsmart me...

[Assyrian]

It might have something to do with this Terry Pratchett quote I was just reading:

Most people who have found that they are more intelligent than most around them, have yet to learn that one of the most intelligent things they can do is prevent said people ever finding this out.

Assyrian