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Beautiful example of politics driving research. They only studied something they knew was a disadvantage for males, while the first thing everybody is curious a

Beautiful example of politics driving research. They only studied something they knew was a disadvantage for males, while the first thing everybody is curious about is how the IQ changed, if it changed: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/dr-paul-irwing-there-are-twice-as-many-men-as-women-with-an-iq-of-120-plus-426321.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/dr-paul-i...

pygy_ 11y ago
IIRC the higher variance in male IQ is hypothesised to be the result of men having only one X chromosome. I'd expect the null to hold in this case. As @chroma pointed out, it would have been interesting to see if the mental rotation ability was improved, or if it is dependent on testosterone exposition during development.
BurningFrog 11y ago
It's a little weird to say males have higher IQ on average. As I understand it (I'm not an IQ expert, just some internet know-it-all), women score better on some categories of questions, as do men, so when you put together a test, you try to make sure it balances out so both get the same average.
- pygy_ 11y ago
  AFAIK the average is the same, but males have a higher variance, meaning that they are more likely to be found at the dumber and smarter ends of the population, while there are more women of average intelligence.
  - stefantalpalaru 11y ago
    http://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/Males-have-greater-g-Sex-differences-in-general-mental-ability-from-100000-17-to-18-year-olds-on-the-Scholastic-Assessment-Test.pdf http://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/Males-have-gr...
    - pygy_ 11y ago
      Wow, this is new to me... Please note, however, that this is an indirect measurement.
- stefantalpalaru 11y ago
  So reality is weird, but manipulating tests to ensure certain results is perfectly fine?
  - BurningFrog 11y ago
    You seem argumentative.
    - stefantalpalaru 11y ago
      In what brave new world is this a bad thing?

pygy_ 11y ago

IIRC the higher variance in male IQ is hypothesised to be the result of men having only one X chromosome. I'd expect the null to hold in this case. As @chroma pointed out, it would have been interesting to see if the mental rotation ability was improved, or if it is dependent on testosterone exposition during development.

BurningFrog 11y ago

It's a little weird to say males have higher IQ on average. As I understand it (I'm not an IQ expert, just some internet know-it-all), women score better on some categories of questions, as do men, so when you put together a test, you try to make sure it balances out so both get the same average.

pygy_ 11y ago
AFAIK the average is the same, but males have a higher variance, meaning that they are more likely to be found at the dumber and smarter ends of the population, while there are more women of average intelligence.
- stefantalpalaru 11y ago
  http://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/Males-have-greater-g-Sex-differences-in-general-mental-ability-from-100000-17-to-18-year-olds-on-the-Scholastic-Assessment-Test.pdf http://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/Males-have-gr...
  - pygy_ 11y ago
    Wow, this is new to me... Please note, however, that this is an indirect measurement.
stefantalpalaru 11y ago
So reality is weird, but manipulating tests to ensure certain results is perfectly fine?
- BurningFrog 11y ago
  You seem argumentative.
  - stefantalpalaru 11y ago
    In what brave new world is this a bad thing?