There is always a debate on who is more intelligent; men or women. I have had this debate many times with girls, and I was of course trying to prove that men are the ones. Am I right? I resorted to some academic studies to find out how I can support my view. Unfortunately, I could not find any study that 100% supports my views. It seems that all those who are doing such studies are women!! The general spirit of all literature about this matter is that men might slightly score higher in an IQ test in some areas, while girls score better in other areas.

The Newsweek magazine published an article in which Joan Raymond says: “An analysis of some 30 studies by British researcher Adrian Furnham, a professor of psychology at University College London, shows that men and women are fairly equal overall in terms of IQ. But women underestimate their own candlepower (and that of women in general), while men overestimate theirs.”

Professor Richard Lynn has some different views on this as he might be the only one who stands next to me with my debate!! He argued in an article published in the Mail Online on May 8th 2010 that men are more intelligent than women by an average of 5%, but this margin is still influential in the practical life as only two women won the Noble Prize in the 110 years of the prize history.

I might not agree with him in this point. In order to apply natural intelligence to real life experiences and compare it between sexes, an equal set of conditions must be maintained. No one can deny that men are or at least were more fortunate in enjoying some kind of freedom to study, work and achieve.

Professor Lynn says: “Ever since the Frenchman Alfred Binet devised the first intelligence test in 1905, study after study has confirmed the same result. When it comes to IQ, men and women – at least once they’ve gained adulthood – simply are not equal.

Boys and girls may start out with the same IQ but by 16 or so boys are starting to inch ahead. The ever-growing success of girls at GCSE, A-level and now at university would seem to refute this – but the blame lies with our exam system, with its emphasis on coursework, which rewards diligence more than it does intelligence.

The undeniable, easily measurable fact remains that, by the time both sexes reach 21, men, on average, score five IQ points higher than women. ” he adds: “In all of these, men outperform women – although women hold their own when it comes to verbal reasoning and have a definite edge in foreign language skills and spelling.”

I agree that every sex has its areas of power. Men are better with spatial intelligence, while women are better with languages. British researcher Adrian Furnham, a professor of psychology at University College London, says: “Universally, men tend to score higher on certain specialized skills, such as spatial awareness. In the real world, that means they might be better at reading maps or navigating. Women score higher in terms of language development and emotional intelligence”

From my own experience, I can say that I am more intelligent and more reliable than my wife in a time of crisis, when she loses control and starts dealing with matters emotionally. But on a long run matters, especially those related to culture, memory and deep analysis I rely on her decisions. I also admit that her memory is like an elephant; especially when I do something wrong!!

You can always train your brain to function better.  Joel Saltzman, author of Shake That Brain insists that you can always stimulate your brain with some techniques, one of which is: “Play with your brain. Learn a new language, master a new hobby or engage in friendly debate. Playing with your brain stimulates blood flow and strengthens the connections (synapses) between nerve cells in the brain. Read challenging books, do puzzles—and whatever you do, use your other hand to comb your hair or brush your teeth.”

My daily brain exercise is a TV program called Letters and Numbers. Here’s the link for those who like to challenge themselves or their mates. http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/lettersandnumbers

Talking about IQ scores, I have had an IQ test recently and scored 139 points, one point shorter than my score three years earlier. I would like everyone who reads this blog to do the test and give us a feedback with their gender and profession. Here’s the link for the test: http://www.free-iqtest.net/

Mohanned Qassar