Gender differences in intelligence

Sex differences in intelligence have been a popular argument for generations. “Francis Galton had little
doubt that men were more intelligent than women), whereas Cyril Burt and Louis Terman agree that this
should be as straightforward as any concept, and can be answered through empirical evidence. In general
intelligence, the findings of various studies have arrived at similar conclusions of either no difference, or
men having a slightly higher IQ than women. In specific intelligence, men excel at spatial ability whereas
women perform better at verbal tasks. The major inconsistencies of findings throughout studies have led
to the critical analysis of intelligence tests. Sir Francis Galton “is the forefather of intelligence tests.” He
made the first attempt to study sex differences in intelligence directly. He hypothesised that sex
differences do exist between males and females. Alfred Binet created the first intelligence test for
children called the Binet-Simon scale, which could determine the child’s mental age.
Charles Spearman aimed to test an individual’s general intelligence. He was interested in relationships
between subtests and found that if an individual scored highly in one subtest, they were likely to score
highly in others. He found that these subtests correlated positively with each other. Through these
findings Spearman developed his two factor theory. Specific intelligence refers to each type of
intelligence that is used for a specific kind of task, such as verbal or spatial intelligence. General
intelligence refers to the intelligence that is required to perform on all types of intelligence tests.
In 1938, John Carlyle Raven published his ‘Raven’s Progressive Matrices’, which were free from cultural
influences and did not depend of language capabilities. In 1939, David Weschler developed the first
intelligence test based on Spearman’s two factor theory called the Wechsler-Bellevue test. This test
concentrated on specific abilities and how they correlated with each other to form an overall measure of
general intelligence. In 1955 Weschler introduced the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). These
scales included a set of subtests to analyse specific intelligence. Lewis Terman studied almost 100 school
children between the ages of four and sixteen using the Stanford-Binet test and found that the girls had
slightly higher IQ’s.Charles Spearman found no sex difference in intelligence, as did Raymond Cattell.
Raymond Cattell theorised the differences between fluid and crystallised intelligence, finding no
difference on the two dimensions. Fluid intelligence is free of culture and is innate whereas crystallised
intelligence is based on cultural experiences and acquired through learning. J.H Court conducted a meta-
analysis of 120 studies on information provided on the Raven Progressive Matrices. He found mixed
results with half of the studies finding no difference and the other half finding a slightly higher IQ in
males. However, Court concluded that there were no differences. Jensen and Mackintosh found similar
results with the only differences being very small with males having a slight advantage of one to two IQ
points. Anderson (2004) reviewed literature on the Ravens Progressive Matrices and the Weschler
intelligence test and concluded that they show no difference.
Richard Lynn and Paul Irwing did a meta-analysis of 57 studies from 30 countries, covering 80,000
people who gave information on the Raven’s Progressive Matrices. They found no sex differences among
children up to the age of fifteen, which does not parallel with Terman’s findings. After the age of fifteen,
males gradually scored higher IQ points than women, totalling up to five points when they reached
adulthood. However, when looking at the effect sizes of Lynn and Irwings findings, the difference in IQ
scores are not very significant. “The effect size allows us to determine the importance of the findings.
Although other studies that used the Weschler test agreed with Lynn and Irwing, showing that men had a
variance of five percent larger than females.
Even though it has been concluded that there is no significant difference between men and women in
general intelligence, specific intelligence is another matter.
The agreed hypothesis is that men and women differ on specific aspects of intelligence. Eleanor Maccoby
and Carol Nagy Jacklin concluded that men perform better on tests of spatial ability and women, tests on
verbal ability. M. C. Linn and A. C. Petersen found an effect size of .44 of males performing better on
spatial perception. J. S. Hyde and M. C. Linn also found an effect size for -.33 of women performing
better on speech production, which supports Maccoby and Jacklin’s conclusion. However, due to the
small effect size of verbal abilities, Hyde and Linn believe that this is not significant enough to claim that
the difference exists.

When considering the validity and reliability of types of measurements, intelligence tests have been
criticised. Maltby claims that “intelligence is probably much more than what can be measured by
intelligence tests; rather, [it is] the result of the individual engaging in a variety of skills and information
within their cultural context.” It would be a challenge to measure a concept such as this which is so
dependent upon if the individual is truly willing to take part. Another difficulty is the dilemma of
knowing the most reliable measurements. Measures of intelligence produce inconsistencies. Nybourg
states that in half of various studies, there have been no difference found, whereas in the other half, males
have a slightly higher IQ, averaging at 3.8. Jensen found that when certain subtests were eliminated from
a study that favoured either sexes, the findings were very different, therefore the findings depend very
much on which subtests are used.

In conclusion to knowing the extent of sex differences in intelligence, due to Lynn and Irwing’s meta
analysis; there is an insignificant amount of difference in general intelligence between males and females.
However, when considering specific intelligence, many studies have shown that men clearly have a better
spatial ability, whereas women perform better on verbal tasks. When including each of the specific
abilities, they cancel each other out to reach a sum of no difference. Another fact to acknowledge is that
male IQ has a much wider spread than females. Females have more of an average grouping of IQ’s
whereas males reach wider ends of the spectrum, either reaching a score of 120 and being labelled as a
genius, or scoring lower than 50 and being labelled as mentally challenged.

The fact that males have such a large variance in their IQ scores has implications on how IQ should be
measured. In the future, IQ should be measured by specific intelligence rather than general due to this
large variance belonging to males.

When looking at the implications for males and females in everyday life, these findings will have a big
impact on education and employment opportunities.

Leatta Hough (1992) found that intelligence effects various aspects in the work place such as competence
and creativity. These aspects will affect future employment for the individual because of how their
previous employers will reference them for their prospective employers. The implication of the previous
findings regarding males have a slightly higher IQ score than women will directly influence the
employer’s decision about who to hire. Employers are more likely to hire men because of their higher
intelligence scores.

These findings may also have an impact on what type of job males and females can work in. Due to the
findings of specific intelligence, males are more likely to work in jobs that require spatial performance
such as construction work, whereas females are more likely to work as a presenter or interviewer which
requires high-quality verbal performance.