He's Not as Smart as He Thinks

Newsweek Web Exclusive

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  • Posted By: pragneshpandya @ 01/25/2008 12:16:12 PM

    As per my comment, it is a male dominant world and women have not that much options to highlight their talents because they have many responsibilities of family and on the other hand male have not anything like that so that differenciate happens otherwise there is no IQ defference between men and women

  • Posted By: dragonflyer04 @ 01/25/2008 12:25:53 PM

    I disagree. In elementary, middle, and high school the girls often were the best students in my class. It wasn't until college I felt I could compete with them. My wife and I have almost the same IQ, but hers in a test we took was two points better, both over 150.

    Perception of intelligence is cultural in most cases and the images we were brought up with as children as to who is the "smartest" , "dumbist", etc.

  • Posted By: sadmartha @ 01/25/2008 12:23:54 PM

    Perception is really important. I tested IQ 152 in the ninth grade, but my mother didn't want me to "get the big head," so she told me my IQ was 123. Consequently whenever something was hard, I thought wasn't smart enough to do it. This was in the '50's when women didn't have many opportunities and maybe she thought she was doing me a favor.

    I think that lots of women's self-esteem problems in people my age is that we've been expected to conform to '50's stereotypes. I was so frustrated by those stereotypes that I set out to be the best man I could, so I can do lots of non-traditional things; I just can't find peers to do them with me. Sad and lonely.

  • Posted By: mensawareness @ 01/25/2008 11:04:41 AM

    This is silly. I think this article is a case of politically correct double standards. As a male who has worked in IT for the last 10 years I am not only insulted and offended by this article, but I realize that if a male wrote the same article claiming 'scientific proof' that we are smarter than women feminists, NOW and other women's groups would claim sexism and have a victim party. For some reason the only thing men have not done that is smart is organize to poiint out misandric articles like this one. It is however, not politically incorrect to bash men. For some reason no matter what articles women write putting men down it seems rare that a man is informed enough to consider it hateful. If women are smarter, then take over the IT business, the science business and math as a career. The "male ego" is such a stereotype at this point. Why is one of the leading theoretical physicists a woman but some guy with no shirt gets arrested on the show COPS for beating his wife? The answer is not because mental capacity is a gender issue. It is because intelligence is an individual thing. All I'm saying is that by the time Joan Raymond writes this pseudo-scientific and hateful article people fale to see the misandry.

    • Posted By: easybake @ 01/25/2008 11:20:20 AM

      The writer of the article may be a woman, but the researcher that did the study
      was a man. And please remember that a study is just that, its not fact. So, don't be
      so bitter, that is usually a womans trait. And yes there is humor here, not everything
      is meant to be taken literally. There is room for opinions and even metaphor.

      • Posted By: mensawareness @ 01/25/2008 12:19:29 PM

        I'm not bitter about the study, I'm bitter about the fact that Newsweek publishes it for a lot of people to see and take what they want from it. particularly sexist women. I'm also bitter about women telling me what to feel. I'll feel bitter all I please. This article is not metaphor, either. Its pretty clearly stating that men are just silly people. When men engage in these studies it is because they are uninformed about the full scope of how women spread sexism against men in the media, the legal system, the scientific community and the education system.

  • Posted By: FuzzHead @ 01/25/2008 11:55:01 AM

    Ha ha! Interesting title. How can anyone say this article isn't intended to be insulting? I think this article comes off as quite arrogant and disrespectful, and doesn't seem to really fit real life experiences. I think it's just another one of those bogus psychology studies to draw social organizations into fund more bogus studies.. Honestly I think posting this article was designed to be subliminal. Hillary is running for president isn't she? And isn't she is running hard against a female favored highly confident Barack Obama? It's just one of those articles that make you go 'hmmm'.

    • Posted By: beniceyall @ 01/25/2008 12:19:15 PM

      Get real. This article is about Clinton vs Obama because it's about Female vs Male??? (Not that it's even necessarily about female vs male to begin with...) Just one of those comments that make you go 'hmmm'.

  • Posted By: BigSky07 @ 01/25/2008 11:42:11 AM

    This journal article provides a much more in-depth discussion about people who overrate themselves:
    Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments
    http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf

    • Posted By: Kfire @ 01/25/2008 12:17:20 PM

      Yes! I've read that one. I'm happy to see it referenced. I thought this particular article (above) was very non-discriminatory. The title, for those who like to harp on the first thing they see, is to get people to read it. Then, once you're reading it, you (hopefully) realize what they are actually saying. It's supposed to be shocking to the common man (or woman) because that's what gets people to look at it. But again, the Unskilled article was a wonderful piece.

  • Posted By: lemonpie @ 01/25/2008 11:17:15 AM

    Yet another misandric sexist propaganda piece to feed the collective feminist ego while bashing men. Clearly sexism is alive and well in the media, where 98 percent of all news editors are females and no stories featuring any sort of positive depiction of males is ever permitted. Sexist fluff and crap. Same as it ever was.

    • Posted By: Ratgurl @ 01/25/2008 11:37:25 AM

      Did you know that 97% of all statistics are made up on the spot? Like your reference to news editors.

  • Posted By: joeabsconditus @ 01/25/2008 11:53:00 AM

    My family has gone from a traditionally white background to a current state of diversity. Hillary is right; when protectionist and isolationist policies go in place it actually hurts the country. All one needs to do is read topics about such policies that should have been covered in high school history classes. Keep the borders open and design better controls to enable positive commercial enterprise, yet keeping security concerns in mind. We are the land of the free and home of the brave because we welcome those who do not have freedom.

    • Posted By: sjbrock80 @ 01/25/2008 12:13:16 PM

      Random thoughts....

  • Posted By: Ms. Jackson @ 01/25/2008 12:05:29 PM

    One, the subject is about perceived intelligence, not about actual intelligence. Two, given the ridiculous amount of spelling and grammatical errors in these forums I'm suprised people can actually debate anything. Book smart doesn't actually mean you're smart, but good grief, punctuation and capitilization are basic skills! I can't label a subjective clause to save my life, but come on...

  • Posted By: thylacine @ 01/25/2008 12:04:58 PM

    Sayin wimmins aint dumberer than mens is liek sayin this globbil warmin is reel. Wimmins shud not voat cuz thay aer not peepel. -Bob

  • Posted By: cntrspll @ 01/25/2008 11:53:40 AM

    ahh, this is very true and fits quite well with how I've thought of men/women intelligence over the past couple years. Women are much smarter than men in areas. Specifically in language and socially. But that goes back to living on the plains where the women were responsible for maintaining the family unit and getting a multitude of things done. Men are "smarter" than women in that, in general, men focus on one thing at a time. Think hunting a buffalo, see the buffalo, hunt the buffalo, kill the buffalo, eat the buffalo, go get another buffalo. This is a generalization, but I've found that women are better multi taskers and men are better focus on one thing get it done.

  • Posted By: ohno0001 @ 01/25/2008 11:53:27 AM

    I think your nerve was a bit rattled before mine. If not, then why the strike on me and my spelling? I'm just addressing everybody. Peace. BTW, i haven't re-read what i have written, so cannot find any errors..sorry.

  • Posted By: thylacine @ 01/25/2008 11:48:05 AM

    Wimmins is dumberer than mens is! -Bob

  • Posted By: thylacine @ 01/25/2008 11:47:06 AM

    Mens is smarterer than wimmins is cuz George Bush is a man, and hees reel smart! -Bob

  • Posted By: womenrule @ 01/25/2008 11:47:03 AM

    I was just pointing out you're ignorance ohno0001, did I strike a nerve??? Can you find the spelling error in my comment???? Bet you can't.

  • Posted By: HockeyDad @ 01/25/2008 11:41:16 AM

    Any honest man realizes that he is not as smart as he thinks!

  • Posted By: Broodstar1337 @ 01/24/2008 8:21:29 AM

    In my life experiences, men are indeed smarter than women. You can blame it on societal roles all you want; times are changing and that's no longer a valid excuse anymore. Men think they're smarter than women because those men routinely use their heads more than women do.

    • Posted By: ombrahma @ 01/25/2008 7:17:35 AM

      Heads? You are right. Lately, they use it for thinking.

      • Posted By: Maria57 @ 01/25/2008 11:40:37 AM

        are u sure that lately men have changed and use their Heads for thinking, i disagree like they say men will be men and their egos remain the same, while women are being noticed more for their occomplishments.

  • Posted By: ohno0001 @ 01/25/2008 11:37:10 AM

    Stop talking about my grammar and spelling, stay on topic womenrule ! You can't argue my point so you are trying to stir away from the topic. I can read your mind !

    • Posted By: sjbrock80 @ 01/25/2008 11:40:24 AM

      I can read it too, and she ain't thinking anything pleasant about you right now.

  • Posted By: HockeyDad @ 01/25/2008 11:39:25 AM

    What is amazing to me is that any honest man would realize that he is not as smart as he thinks he is!

  • Posted By: womenrule @ 01/25/2008 11:31:39 AM

    This is for ohno0001........WoW!!! , are you really that ignorant??? Take a look at your grammar.......and not to mention your spelling !!! You really must be better.....(In ignorance)

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