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Intelligence

A gender bender

Nature volume 438, pages 31–32 (2005)Cite this article

The conclusion of a number-crunching exercise on various data sets is that male university students have significantly higher IQs than their female counterparts. But the methodology used is deeply flawed.

The paper is by Paul Irwing and Richard Lynn, and was widely trailed in the British press at the end of August. It claims to show an average IQ advantage of 4.6 points in favour of males among university students — about one-third of the standard deviation of IQ in the population as a whole, which by convention is set at 15. If this were true, it would really matter, in a way that resonates with the recent controversy at Harvard University concerning the representation of women in science3. It would also overturn a consensus of more than 50 years' standing, that the only sex difference in IQ is a possible slightly greater variance among males.

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References

  1. Bradley, F. H. Appearance and Reality: A Metaphysical Essay (Swan Sonnenschein, London, 1893).

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  2. Irwing, P. & Lynn, R. Br. J. Psychol. 96, 505–525 (2005).

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  3. Singer, E. Nature 434, 424 (2005).

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  1. Psychometric Research and Development Limited, Brewmaster House, The Maltings, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3HT, UK

    Steve Blinkhorn

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  1. Steve Blinkhorn
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Blinkhorn, S. A gender bender. Nature 438, 31–32 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/438031a

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