It is a finding certain to be hotly disputed at least among half the population. According to the latest research, women are brighter than men.
For the first time in IQ testing, psychologists have found that female scores have risen above those of men.
Since IQ testing began a century ago, women have been as much as five points behind, leading psychologists to suggest embedded genetic differences.
But that gap has been narrowing in recent years and this year women have moved ahead, according to James Flynn, a world-renowned authority on IQ tests.
‘In the last 100 years the IQ scores of both men and women have risen but women’s have risen faster,’ said Mr Flynn. ‘This is a consequence of modernity. The complexity of the modern world is making our brains adapt and raising our IQ.’
One possible explanation is that women’s lives have become more demanding as they multitask between raising a family and doing a job.
Another is that women have a slightly higher potential intelligence than men and are only now realising it.
Mr Flynn, who will publish his findings in a book, said more data was needed to explain the trend.
‘The full effect of modernity on women is only just emerging,’ he added.
He collated IQ examination results from countries in western Europe and from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Argentina and Estonia.
These showed that in westernised countries the gap in scores between men and women had become minimal.
The data for making exact comparisons was sparser and could be carried out for only a handful of countries. It included Australia, where male and female IQs were found to be almost identical. In New Zealand, Estonia and Argentina, women scored marginally more than men.
Mr Flynn said: ‘As the world gets more complex, and living in it demands more abstract thought, so people are adapting.’
He added: ‘I suspect that the same trends are happening in Britain, too, although the data is too sparse to be sure.'
这个发现注定会引起至少一半人的热议。据最新调查显示，女人比男人聪明。
心理学家发现，女性智商测验的分数首度超过了男性。
自一个世纪前开展智力测试以来，女性智商一直落后男性5分之多，正是这一数据导致心理学家认为男女基因之间存在固有的差异。
但世界知名的智力测验权威詹姆斯 佛林的测验结果显示，近年来这一差距正在不断缩小，女性的得分在今年已经超过了男性。
“过去100年来，男女的智商分数都在提高，但女性的分数增长更快。”佛林说，“这是现代化的结果。现代化世界的复杂迫使我们的大脑不断适应外界的发展，从而提高了我们的智商。”
一种可能的解释是，女性得兼顾家庭和事业，生活压力更大。
另一种解释是，女性的智商潜力略高于男性，现在才刚刚发挥出来。
佛林先生将在新书中发表这一研究结果，但他表示，仍需更多数据来解释这个趋势。
“现代化对女性的充分影响才刚刚显现。”他补充道。
他对照了在西欧、美国、加拿大、新西兰、阿根廷和爱沙尼亚进行的智力测验的结果。
这些数据显示，在西化国家中，男女智商的分差最小。
但可用来进行精确比较的数据却比较缺乏，男女智商的精确对比只能在极少数国家中实施。其中包括澳大利亚，这里的男女智商几乎相同。在新西兰、爱沙尼亚、阿根廷，女性智商略高于男性。
佛林先生说：“随着世界变得越发复杂，生活在其中需要更多的抽象思维，人们也因此在不断地适应。”
他补充说：“我认为英国也正经历着同样的趋势，尽管还没有足够的数据来确定这一点。”
