Men think they’re brighter than they are and women underestimate their IQ. Why?

When asked to estimate their own intelligence, most people will say they are above average^[1], even though this is a statistical improbability. This is a normal, healthy cognitive bias and extends to any socially desirable trait such as honesty, driving ability and so on^[2]. This pattern is so common that it’s known as “the above-average effect^[3]”.

In a recent study^[4], my colleagues and I explored how consistently men and women estimated their own intelligence or IQ (intelligence quotient). We also assessed measures of general self-esteem and masculine and feminine personality traits.

We found the strongest predictors of overestimating IQ were biological sex and then psychological gender. Being born male and having strong masculine traits (both men and women) were associated with an inflated intellectual self-image.

Read more: You can do it! A 'growth mindset' helps us learn^[5]

Male hubris, female humility

Despite people’s overall tendency to overestimate their own intelligence, individuals vary. Some doubt their intellectual ability while others greatly overestimate their talents. In general, though, when asked to estimate their IQ, men think they’re significantly brighter than they are, while women’s estimates are far more modest.

Our findings are consistent with those of other studies. Psychologist Adrian Furnham has termed this effect the male hubris, female humility problem^[6]. It’s true of many cultures.

Why do men see themselves as so much brighter, while women consistently underestimate their intelligence?

Read more: Understanding emotions is nearly as important as IQ for students' academic success^[7]

There are no gender differences in actual IQ

Psychology and intelligence researchers are unequivocal: men and women do not differ in actual IQ. There is no “smarter sex”. However, it was only with the development of objective measures of assessing intelligence that this notion was invalidated.

Historically, women were believed to be intellectually inferior as they had slightly smaller skulls. By the same logic, an elephant’s intelligence dwarfs ours! Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to brain size.

In the past century, gender stereotypes have changed greatly^[8]. Today, when asked explicitly, most people will agree men and women are equally intelligent. Overt endorsements of gender stereotypes about intelligence are rare in most countries.

But there is quite a difference in implicit beliefs about gender and intellect. Covert and indirect endorsement can still be widely seen.

In a classic social psychology study^[9], researchers asked parents to estimate the intelligence of their children. Sons were rated significantly more intelligent than daughters. This finding has been replicated across the world.

Parental expectations may be particularly important in influencing their children’s intellectual self-image, and are also predictive of later academic achievement.

Read more: 'You're the best!' Your belief in your kids' academic ability can actually improve their grades^[10]

Gender differences in self-esteem^[11] might also be an important factor, as people with higher self-esteem tend to see all aspects of their life (including intellectual ability) more positively. Girls and women rate their general self-esteem significantly lower than boys and men. This difference emerges early in adolescence.

What did our study find?

In our study^[12], we asked participants to estimate their IQ after briefing them on how intelligence is scored. The average score is 100 points. We showed participants that two-thirds (66%) of people score in the range between 85 and 115 points to give them a frame of reference for estimates.

Where our study differed is that we told participants they would complete an IQ test after estimating their own IQ. This would help counter false bragging and inflated estimates, and allow us to test the accuracy of the male and female self-estimates.

Participants also completed a measure of general self-esteem, and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory^[13], which measures masculine and feminine personality traits. We had a hypothesis that psychological gender (specifically masculinity) would be a better predictor of self-estimates than biological sex (male or female at birth).

Our sample reported a mean IQ score of 107.55 points. This was slightly above average, as expected.

First, we examined the accuracy of their judgments, as one possibility might simply be that one gender (males or females) had completely unrealistic estimates of ability. Looking at the lines plotting self-estimated IQ against actual IQ, we can see men and women in our sample were fairly consistent in their accuracy. The difference was that male scores (in blue) were more more often overestimates (above the line) and females scores (in green) were more often underestimates (below the line).

References

1. ^{^} above average (en.wikipedia.org)
2. ^{^} honesty, driving ability and so on (journals.sagepub.com)
3. ^{^} the above-average effect (en.wikipedia.org)
4. ^{^} recent study (www.frontiersin.org)
5. ^{^} You can do it! A 'growth mindset' helps us learn (theconversation.com)
6. ^{^} male hubris, female humility problem (www.researchgate.net)
7. ^{^} Understanding emotions is nearly as important as IQ for students' academic success (theconversation.com)
8. ^{^} gender stereotypes have changed greatly (www.apa.org)
9. ^{^} classic social psychology study (link.springer.com)
10. ^{^} 'You're the best!' Your belief in your kids' academic ability can actually improve their grades (theconversation.com)
11. ^{^} Gender differences in self-esteem (www.apa.org)
12. ^{^} our study (www.frontiersin.org)
13. ^{^} Bem Sex-Role Inventory (www.britannica.com)
14. ^{^} Calling all parents – Australia's future female scientists need your support now (theconversation.com)