3 ms·

An Evolutionary Theory for the Variability Hypothesis

49 points by exolymph 8y ago

whatshisface 8y ago
>how one gender of a sexually dimorphic species might tend to evolve with greater variability than the other gender. I have heard this theory before, in arguments where it was being supported by the higher male fraction in both C-level positions and prison. However, there are plenty of confounding factors in those cases. Has this dimorphism ever been found in something relatively simple and easily testable? Ideally, you'd be able to show that it happened in height, or for more social relevance some metric like IQ. In any case you would want something that society can do almost nothing to influence beyond extreme nutritional deficiencies.
- crazygringo 8y ago
  From what I've read, SAT scores show larger deviations for males than females, which is probably as close to IQ as you're looking for. The effect is consistently there, although it's not huge. Of course you could argue there could be confounding factors here too, like how boys and girls might be treated differently by teachers. You can browse some of the raw data here: http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/2013/TotalGroup-2013.pdf http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/2... https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/sat-percentile-ranks-gender-race-ethnicity.pdf https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/sat-percentile...
  - burnte 8y ago
    Society plays a role in that metric just like it does the CxO/prison metric. Fewer girls were encouraged to take the SAT compared to boys (only the top girls would really push for it), just like women were held back in the working world, and controlled more domestically (as well as treated with more lenience in the courts). It's really hard to factor out societal bias in gender studies.
- mpweiher 8y ago
  > Has this dimorphism ever been found in something relatively simple and easily testable? Yes. For example: adult height, birth weight, BMI, "g" (general intelligence = IQ). "The sex difference in IQ variability, for example, appears before children begin preschool." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886906000420 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019188690... Greater male variability is also found in many other species: https://psyarxiv.com/ms524 https://psyarxiv.com/ms524 And of course TFA has a huge list of references making note of this effect in biological research since Darwin.
Mizza 8y ago
For context (I assume) - this article is making the rounds: https://quillette.com/2018/09/07/academic-activists-send-a-published-paper-down-the-memory-hole/ https://quillette.com/2018/09/07/academic-activists-send-a-p...
dooglius 8y ago
Related discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17938318 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17938318

49 points by exolymph 8y ago

>how one gender of a sexually dimorphic species might tend to evolve with greater variability than the other gender. I have heard this theory before, in arguments where it was being supported by the higher male fraction in both C-level positions and prison. However, there are plenty of confounding factors in those cases. Has this dimorphism ever been found in something relatively simple and easily testable? Ideally, you'd be able to show that it happened in height, or for more social relevance some metric like IQ. In any case you would want something that society can do almost nothing to influence beyond extreme nutritional deficiencies.

crazygringo 8y ago
From what I've read, SAT scores show larger deviations for males than females, which is probably as close to IQ as you're looking for. The effect is consistently there, although it's not huge. Of course you could argue there could be confounding factors here too, like how boys and girls might be treated differently by teachers. You can browse some of the raw data here: http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/2013/TotalGroup-2013.pdf http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/2... https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/sat-percentile-ranks-gender-race-ethnicity.pdf https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/sat-percentile...
- burnte 8y ago
  Society plays a role in that metric just like it does the CxO/prison metric. Fewer girls were encouraged to take the SAT compared to boys (only the top girls would really push for it), just like women were held back in the working world, and controlled more domestically (as well as treated with more lenience in the courts). It's really hard to factor out societal bias in gender studies.
mpweiher 8y ago
> Has this dimorphism ever been found in something relatively simple and easily testable? Yes. For example: adult height, birth weight, BMI, "g" (general intelligence = IQ). "The sex difference in IQ variability, for example, appears before children begin preschool." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886906000420 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019188690... Greater male variability is also found in many other species: https://psyarxiv.com/ms524 https://psyarxiv.com/ms524 And of course TFA has a huge list of references making note of this effect in biological research since Darwin.

Mizza 8y ago

For context (I assume) - this article is making the rounds: https://quillette.com/2018/09/07/academic-activists-send-a-published-paper-down-the-memory-hole/ https://quillette.com/2018/09/07/academic-activists-send-a-p...

dooglius 8y ago

Related discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17938318 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17938318