Here the Guardian has a more typical tiltle. Imagine if they had written
"Women 'grasping at straws' over intelligence claims"
Unthinkable.
Men 'grasping at straws' over intelligence claims
Donald MacLeod
Thursday August 25, 2005
Guardian Unlimited
Claims that men are more intelligent than women were met with scorn today - as girls once again trounced boys in this year's GCSE results.
A paper due to be published in the British Journal of Psychology claims to have established a five-point difference in IQ scores between men and women.
There are more men with very high IQs and this explains why more men than women win Nobel prizes or become chess grandmasters, argue Richard Lynn, of Ulster University, and Paul Irwing, of Manchester University.
"This is a last desperate stand by men to show they are superior. They see they are sinking and are grasping at straws," said Sue Povey, of University College London.
Prof Lynn is regarded with suspicion by many academics for his claims that white people are more intelligent than black people. Three years ago he even attempted to prove that light-skinned African-Americans were cleverer than their dark-skinned peers.
On this occasion, his co-author is Dr Irwing, a senior lecturer in psychology, who told the Times Higher Education Supplement: "My politics are rather different from Richard's and from my point of view, I would prefer it if we were wrong." But he added that a five IQ-point difference could not be easily dismissed.
Looked at from a population perspective, it meant there were three men to each woman with an IQ above 130, and 5.5 men for each woman with an IQ above 145.
Dr Irwing added: "These different proportions of men and women with high IQ scores are clearly worth speaking of and may go some way to explaining the greater numbers of men achieving distinctions of various kinds for which a high IQ is required, such as chess grandmasters, Field medallists for mathematics, Nobel prizewinners and the like."
The awkward fact that women now outnumber men at every level of educational achievement except doctorates - today 8% more girls than boys gained GCSE passes at grades A-star to C for instance - has forced the authors to look for other explanations. They say there is evidence that at the same IQ level women are able to achieve more than men "possibly because they are more conscientious and better adapted to sustained periods of hard work", and say that IQs of about 125 are enough to allow access to all levels in the labour market.
"The small male advantage in IQ is, therefore, likely to be of most significance for tasks of high complexity, such as complex problem solving in mathematics, engineering and physics, and in other areas of high spatial ability," said Dr Irwing.
Prof Povey, a human geneticist, said IQ tests were not a pure test of innate ability. Better educated people did better and women over 30 were likely to have worse educational opportunities.
She said there were differences between men and women, who seem to have a better verbal memory and be better at multitasking. More men have autism and there could be a link with obsessional concentration of the kind needed to win Nobel prizes.
"There could well be differences, but I remain to be convinced that there is a difference in IQ. If women had the same chances there might be just as many women Nobel prizewinners," said Prof Povey.
Simon Baron-Cohen, of Cambridge University, who first proposed a link between autism and the "male brain", has dismissed Prof Lynn's attempt to enlist him as an ally.
"I wish Prof Lynn had read the relevant section of my book, The Essential Difference, which concludes that overall intelligence is not better in one sex than the other."
EducationGuardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005