14 DAY TRIAL // This is a breakthrough with a double meaning for the feminist party. The genes may be the same, but the brain structure makes women aspire to IQ records, while men are either geniuses or simply dumb. In everyday life, what you see is what you get...
Researchers have justified this by suggesting there are twice as many men as women in the brightest 2% of the population but this is also true at the other extreme: in the least intelligent 2%. It appears that men's intellectual heights are not simply unequal opportunities.
The British team made of four psychologists investigated the intelligence of over 2,500 brothers and sisters, assessed by science, maths, language and mechanical ability tests. Just as it had previously been known, women were much better at language skills, while men at science and arithmetic.
The average intelligence scores between men and women resulted more or less equal, to an overall analysis. But the Gauss curb showed that men tended to gather at the extremes of the intelligence scale. Perhaps this explains why out of 557 Nobel prizes, 545 went to men.
Of course, these are statistical values: this does not mean there are not any women who could be considered geniuses, with IQ of over 150, only that they are less than men. Equally, this does not mean there are no dumb women either, only that dumb men significantly overcome them in number.
"Men were more likely to be both at the very top and at the very bottom." said co-author Timothy Bates, a professor of psychology at Edinburgh University.
One evolutionary theory holds that men evolved a higher intelligence to make themselves outstanding for attractive females, while women's mating strategies were linked less to showing off their intelligence. Higher intelligence in primitive men could also have been connected to hunter life, that requires high intelligent strategies, compared to a gatherer life of women.
"The female developmental program may be tilted more towards ensuring survival and [enjoying] the safety of the middle ground," said Bates.
The team also does not discard the fact that when it comes to boys and girls coming from the same family, their educational values could have been different.
"The phenomenon might have its roots in society's expectations for the sexes. Men have long been expected to be high achievers, while women were expected to base their lives around the home." said Bates. "Men and boys are socialized into higher levels of achievement." said Joan Harvey of Newcastle University.