Posted on 09/08/2006 6:46:07 PM PDT by presidio9
Men are smarter than women, according to a controversial new study that adds another cinder to the fiery debate over whether gender impacts general intelligence.
"For 100 years there's been a consensus among psychologists that there is no sex difference in intelligence," said J. Philippe Rushton, a psychologist at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Recent studies, however, have raised questions about the validity of this claim, he said. One such study showed that men have larger brains than women, a 100 gram difference after correcting for body size. Rushton found similar results in a study of gender and brain size.
To determine if there was a link between gender and intelligence, and perhaps between brain size and intelligence, Rushton and a colleague analyzed the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores from 100,000 17- and 18-year-olds.
G-factor
When Rushton and colleagues weighted each SAT question by an established general intelligence factor called the g-factor, they discovered that males surpassed females by an average of 3.6 IQ points.
The g-factor uses only the tough questions in the test. "If I tell you the last four digits of my telephone number and ask you to repeat them back to me, that's a low g-loaded memory test," Rushton explained. "But if I then ask you to repeat them back to me in the reverse order, that suddenly requires a tremendous amount more cognitive processing. It is a very high loaded g-item.”
So the g-factor "is really the active ingredient of the test," Rushton said. "It's the single best, most predictive part of the test."
Rushton suspects that the results are due to males having more brain tissue than females on average. "It's a very reasonable hypothesis that you just need more brain tissue dedicated to processing high ‘g' information," Rushton said.
The study, which Rushton co-wrote with Douglas Jackson, also of the University of Western Ontario, is detailed in the current issue of the journal Intelligence.
Flawed conclusion
Bruce Bracken, a psychologist at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, who was not involved in the new study, said he thinks Rushton and Jackson make a convincing argument for the sample they used.
"The difference appears to be real," Bracken said.
But he questions the team's conclusions. "I believe that the differences probably lie in the variables they hadn't considered," Bracken said.
One plausible explanation is that more females than males decide to go to college and thus take the SAT test. The study did in fact include about 10,000 more females than males.
"This suggests that more males are deciding to do something else," Bracken said. "It may be that the males who would not have scored as high on the SAT chose not to take it, and they chose another route."
A more reliable study, he said, would be to match each male with a very similar female and then compare the results.
The debate goes on
The findings add fuel to a still smoldering debate ignited by former Harvard President Lawrence Summers, who stated early last year that males have a higher intrinsic aptitude in science and engineering.
In a letter from Summers days after his controversial statements, he wrote: "Despite reports to the contrary, I did not say, and I do not believe, that girls are intellectually less able than boys, or that women lack the ability to succeed at the highest levels of science. As the careers of a great many distinguished women scientists make plain, the human potential to excel in science is not somehow the province of one gender or another.”
While Rushton called his results significant, he doesn't think they are a basis for uprooting the field of education.
"I don't think it has any real implications for education policy or schoolwork," he said. "In fact, females actually get better grades than males.”
Plus, he doesn't think the IQ difference would show up in everyday activities. "For the vast majority of people in the vast majority of jobs, it really doesn't translate into very much," he said.
But when it comes to Nobel Prize winners, he said that men could outnumber women 10-to-1. "Where it will really show up is at the very high end of the distribution," Rushton said.
Rushton has left the door open for opposing views and findings that might contradict his new study.
"I wouldn't say it's the last word. We really do need more research on it before we can be absolutely certain," Rushton said.
Oh I would never claim to be smarter than any woman. But after a divorce, I came out with the house, the autos, the dogs and minus a $5000.00 check...I did pretty good. My ex hated her lesbian feminazi attorney and actually felt sorry for me. We agreed mutually!
Actually they aren't we just let them think they are.
I don't know but for a man to come right out and say it doesn't seem very smart. LOL!
Which would be significant if men thought with their brains ...
I don't think any difference has been proved, and this study certainly doesn't do it. But intelligence is very much a result of expectations, and just take a look at what is expected of women as opposed to what is expected of men. The soft bigotry of the world is really what makes apparent dummies of us.
if any man were actually, in fact smarter than a woman, evolutionary pressure has tought him to keep his mouth firmly shut about it...
(and yes dear, if you are reading this I *did* take the garbage out and feed the dogs, and no, I do *not* think you look fat in that black dress you just bought)
Actually, we're just letting you think that.
It means he's retiring (forced retirement) early and his wife will be the bread winner.
I generally post only articles that are going to get a lot of hits, and some of the moderators are too dim to understand where their paycheck comes from. OF COURSE this article relates to politics. I'm not going to bother to explain it.
But how do they square this with the fact that the smartest person in the country is a woman, Marilyn Vos Savant(a nom de plume?)?
I'm smarter than my wife and it is easy to prove. I married her, and she was stupid enough to marry me.
So, if you are dyslexic, you are smarter than the average bear?
Like women NEED to "nut up"..and PMS..why are you BLAMING OUR ATTITUDE ON PMS!!!!????
Sorry, I don't know what got in to me..you men just don't understand what it's like..why don't YOU TRY IT???!! HUH???
Ooops sorry. I'm sure you misunderstood..men never understand...
{tears falling profusely}
NO! I', not crying because of what you said..It's what you DID NOT SAY....B@$tard!
LOL
"With small differences, that becomes a significant factor."
I think that any difference here is eliminated by the hormonal impulses of young men during the institutional education years.
From what I remember from high school and the first few years of college, the girls studied the books and the boys studied the girls...
Was there ever any doubt?
Yesterday scientists revealed that beer contains small traces of female hormones. To prove their theory, the scientists fed 100 men 12 pints of beer and observed that 100% of them gained weight, talked excessively without making sense, became emotional, and couldn't drive.
No further testing is planned.
LOL
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