Psychologists in stupid research result shock

[altariel]

Apparently men are more intelligent than women.

The study, a meta-analysis of 57 other studies, "discovered that there was no difference in boys' and girls' intelligence until the age of about 14. But after that point, they argue, a difference of almost exactly five IQ points emerges which seems to remain constant throughout adulthood."

Hmm... it's almost like some process - maybe related to socialization - starts to kick in... Dr Altariel diagnoses a swift dose of Q-methodology and a pair of smacked legs.

Comments

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Um, what is Q-methodology (as explained for dummies, because I don't know anything about statistical research instruments, but then I'm only female...)? And why do you think it is applicable to correct the "results" of this study?

Despite my general cluelessness on this matter, I am, however, not that inclined to listen to a guy who claims that the average black inhabitant of the sub-Saharan region has an IQ lower than that of Forrest Gump.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

It's a truth universally acknowledged that meta-analyses can prove black is white.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yup.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

He believes men are more intelligent because they have bigger brains.

What a stunningly, powerful insight.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It must be the big brains let them think such huge thoughts.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Nah, that's just the effect of the echo in the enormous hollow space.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

That definitely makes more sense.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Q methodology is a method of statistical analysis chiefly concerned with human subjectivity and intersubjectivity. It's powerful at exploring the various understandings that surround a particular issue or topic and, because of this focus on the shared nature of these accounts, Q methodologists tend to be more aware of the social aspects of the phenomena under investigation.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot for the explanation and the link to your LJ-entry on Q-methodology! Especially thanks to Q methodology as applied to Blake's 7, I can now see what it is all about.

And awareness of the social dimensions of IQ testing and claims about gendered intelligence is most certainly called for.

[crossbow1.livejournal.com]

Especially in light of the fact that Albert Einstein had a brain only 3/4 normal size.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

There's plenty of work which challenges the assumptions of IQ methodology - my experience is that it just doesn't tend to get taught unless you choose to study critical social psychology.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded (no doubt because of my inferior brainpower and its nonlinear, metaphorical processing) of a class-action lawsuit that a group of women filed some years ago against the U.S. State Department. The suit claimed that the written entrance examination for joining the State Service (diplomatic corps, etc.) was biased against women.

As a failed State Service applicant myself, I was invited to join the class action. Trouble was, I'd passed the written exam with flying colors. Where I failed was the in the interview. My inability to expound extemporaneously--before a coincidentally 3/4 African-American review panel--on the American civil rights movement was the failure point.

My results, mailed to me several weeks later, stated that the cause of my failure was "poor grammar."

Go figure. I wasn't, therefore, eligible to join the class action--which, by the way, succeeded, and a number of women were given a new chance to enter the State Service.

Please don't ask me to pull this all back around full circle to your actual post. I'm not smart enough.

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

And how often are men deemed superior just because more blokes are into collecting trivia than women? Seriously? Sigh.

[manna]

I will always remember the hapless mature student at Warwick who came up from the psychology department to do part of her project with us in the biological sciences department. She told us that when she was discussing her experimental design with her supervisor, she told him that she wanted to put some people in a negative control group. Her supervisor said 'Oh, really? So...what's that for?'

[mgkellner.livejournal.com]

My theory.....

For my daughter's ninth birthday, we had a "Makeover Party". This was something done by the local hairdresser's college. For $8 each, they all got a nail polish and hair styling. I was there for about 2 hours. There were about 30 women in the place getting perms and hair color changes at the same time. The place smelled like a toxic waste dump. I had to step outside several times for fresh air.

Is it possible that repeated exposure to the chemicals in beauty products can cause brain rot? I note the circumstantial evidence that most women with advanced degrees opt for a more natural look, which would seem to correlate with lower usage of beauty products.

mk

[mgkellner.livejournal.com]

A second theory...

Estrogen Poisoning. ;^)

mk

[cirdan-havens.livejournal.com]

*rolls eyes* Only a man would think of such a thing. Feminist or not.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

;-P

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Or women collect the wrong trivia - not facts about football.

And:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Any woman who has ever been responsible for her other half's washing is already more than inured to toxicity.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

True. No facts about wars but *cultural* history. How many psychology questions do you see in Millionaire? Exactly. It's *male* trivia that's still considered the most important trivia. A system that feeds on itself.

Thank you! *salutes you*

Not true!

[(Anonymous)]

Nah - women think it too. We evil men have subjugated *lots* of women so well that they think our wicked thoughts for us.

M