by Richard
I know this is going to be hard to believe. Really I do. Aren’t most of us dudes reliable estimators of our own abilities? Of course we are. Well, maybe not. According to a British researcher, it’s dudes who consistently overestimate their own brainpower, while women tend to underestimate their own and that of other women.
Hm. Men all braggy and women self-effacing. Why does that sound so familiar?
Anyway. Adrian Furnham, a professor of psychology at University College London, has looked at studies conducted over the course of the last 30 years and found some interesting stuff.
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. But most experts agree there is no real, important overall difference when it comes to gender and intelligence.
So, that’s all well and good. There are some actual, measurable differences between male and female intellect. However, what I’m interested in is perceived intelligence, that is, how smart we think we are.
It’s what we call the male hubris and female humility effect. Men are more confident about their IQ. These studies show that on average, women underestimate their IQ scores by about five points while men overestimate their own IQs. Since these studies were international in scope, the results were essentially the same whether women were from Argentina, America, Britain, Japan or Zimbabwe.
Not only that, but women across generations tend to think of men as smarter than women.
Men aren’t more clever or smarter. But since they think they are, they are more confident about their abilities. These self-beliefs, however, may be highly adaptive. Who gets a job? A bright woman who doesn’t think she’s smart, or a not-so-bright man who believes he’s capable of anything? Arrogance and hubris are not attractive qualities, but confident, self-belief may be. Certainly, underestimating abilities might hurt you. There’s a good quote from one of your countrymen, Henry Ford. He says: “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.” And that is what is troublesome. Beliefs may be more important than actual ability in certain settings.
So, according to this dude, self-deception can actually work for you. Seems a good thing to know. Not that I really needed it since I’m always the smartest person in the room. But then, I’m sure you knew I was going to say that.
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