Who has more scientists, women or men? Scientifically proven: men are smarter than women

Scientists led by Philip Rushton, a psychologist at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, conducted a series of academic tests upon admission to university with young people aged 17-18 of both sexes. Based on the results of processing the tests, the researchers found that on average the IQ of boys was 3.6 points higher than that of girls.

This was shown by the so-called “common factor”, which is present in all IQ tests. According to factor theories of intelligence, it is this factor that shows the general level of mental development of a person. “They tell you the last four digits of a phone number, and then ask you to repeat them or retell them in reverse order. So, in the latter case, much more intellectual effort is required to complete the task correctly,” Rushton said about the tests.

Psychologists suggest that a higher IQ in men is determined by a larger amount of brain tissue, which determines the speed of information processing. It is known that on average men are larger than women, respectively. The average man's brain is about 100 grams heavier than a woman's.

American Bruce Bracken, a psychologist from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg (Virginia), believes that in this case the conclusions of scientists regarding the difference in IQ level are fair. However, he questions the conclusions drawn. "Perhaps the reason lies in variables that the researchers did not take into account," he suggests. For example, the unequal number of women and men taking the test. “It is possible that the boys, who were not confident in their abilities, did not take the tests, and the girls, who were not even up to the level, decided to try their luck.” In his opinion, the study would be more credible if the same number of men and women of equal intellectual level took part in it.

At the same time, Rushton himself does not believe that the results of his experiment should somehow influence education policy. Moreover, it recognizes that women's academic performance is, on average, higher than that of men. However, even a low IQ does not prevent many from achieving great social success and a prominent position in society. A striking example of this is, whose IQ does not even reach the average.

It is impossible to make unambiguous statements on the question of which person is smarter: men or women, since in various aspects representatives of the opposite sexes have different knowledge. We can only highlight a few areas in which one or the other shows more ingenuity.

In what ways are men smarter than women?

Nature has decreed that the brain volume of representatives of the stronger sex is slightly larger than the brain volume of women. The fact, of course, remains a fact, but it doesn’t make the guys any smarter. The size of the human brain does not in any way affect the ability to reason logically. To make it clearer, this phenomenon can be explained using the following example. The size of the elephant's brain is much larger than the size of the human brain, but this does not make the animal any more intelligent.

Of course, in many life situations, men are able to do smarter things than women, and this is explained by sobriety of mind. The fact is that guys react to various difficulties more calmly than girls. They do not have such emotionality, so they logically assess the current situation and environment.

Men are much more intelligent than women in various mathematical tasks. They understand computers and household appliances better and solve intellectual problems faster.

In what ways are women smarter than men?

Some women are confident that in their relationship with their significant other, they should occupy a leadership position. That's what happens. Wise girls act smartly: they gain power over their lover with the help of love, affection and cunning. A representative of the stronger sex only needs to hint at how it would be more correct to act in a given situation, but the choice still needs to be left to him. Smart women never tell their spouses that they have the most developed mental abilities. On the contrary, they will always support their loved one and say that they feel protected next to their boyfriend.

Girls have very high intuition and instinct, which always help them in any difficulties in life.

It is impossible to say for sure which of the people is smarter: women or men. Gender does not affect mental development at all. Everything here is individual and depends only on the person. Both women and men are equal.

Video on the topic

In 2009-2013, Russia for the first time joined the testing of skills and literacy levels of the adult population, which is carried out by the international program PIAAC. It was attended by more than 5,000 people across the country who completed a survey and tests in reading, mathematics, and information technology. Based on the data obtained, scientists came to rather unexpected conclusions. For example, women in Russia turned out to be smarter than men.

About the PIAAC program

The international project PIAAC (The Program for the International Assessment for Adult Competencies) began its work in 2008. It was created with the assistance of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The goal of the program is to collect information that forms an idea of ​​the distribution of the level of knowledge and competencies among the adult population of the country. These data help authorities plan their workforce development strategy in the future.

In 2013, the study assessed several competencies:

• reading skills;
• level of knowledge in mathematics;
• knowledge of a technologically rich environment (Internet, digital technologies, means of communication).

Testing took place in two stages - filling out a questionnaire and solving test problems. The questionnaire included questions about the age, education, and employment of the respondent. Considering that not everyone knows how to use a computer, participants were also offered a paper version of the tasks.

The results of the program are aimed at solving a number of problems:

• assessing differences in knowledge and skills across age categories within one country;
• comparative analysis of all participating countries;
• establishing a relationship between the level of competence of people and their socio-economic achievements in society;
• analysis of the effectiveness of a particular education system for the formation of key skills;
• searching for effective mechanisms for learning and successful work throughout life;
• adjusting the educational program taking into account identified problems in the knowledge and skills of the population, as well as organizing additional training in the workplace.

Features of the PIAAC in Russia in 2013

Until 2013, the last time such studies were carried out in Russia was in the mid-90s. In total, 24 states became participants in PIAAC, and 22 of them are members of the OECD. Only Russia and Cyprus are not part of it. In our country, the program was implemented by the Institute of Education of the National Research University Higher School of Economics together with the Center for Fundamental Research of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation provided active support to the project.

The total number of people who underwent international testing was 157 thousand people, age category 16-65 years. According to the regulations, 5,000 people, randomly selected, took part from each country.

Since Russia is not a member of the OECD, it was not included in the official final report. The results for our country were presented in a technical report. However, not everything went smoothly with the implementation of the program.

The dissatisfaction of Russian experts was caused by the exclusion from the number of respondents of residents of Moscow and the Moscow region, as the most educated and literate part of the population. And in an international report, PIAAC experts expressed suspicions about the falsification of a large amount of information from Russia. This could be a consequence of our country's refusal to use automated data analysis, which was recommended to all participants to improve accuracy and reliability. As a result, the statistical error of Russian results was 5 times higher than that in other countries.

PIAAC results for 2013: women are smarter in Russia

Russian participants showed decent results when assessing reading skills, their average score (275) even exceeded the final average - 273. The leaders in this ranking were the Netherlands (284), Finland (288) and Japan (296). By the way, the Japanese and Finns took first and second places in terms of mathematical literacy. They scored 288 and 282 points respectively. Belgium came in third place (280). And the Russians showed a result of 270, which is close to the overall average score of 269.

The assessment of the level of computer proficiency, carried out in the third test task, was of particular importance for domestic experts. And without statistical research in Russia, the problem with computer literacy is clearly visible. However, the test results confirmed that the category of such citizens makes up 48.5% of the country’s adult population. Moreover, 40.5% of respondents have minimal computer skills, and only 25.9% of participants can boast of a high level of knowledge in this area.

Russian women presented an unexpected surprise to the experts. They outperformed men in all three types of testing. In reading skills, Russian women received 282 points, and the stronger sex - 278. In mathematics, women achieved a minimal advantage - 275 versus 274. Knowledge of computer literacy again remained with the ladies - 285 versus 281. We can say that scientists have empirically proven the intellectual advantage of Russian women over men.

Among other results of the study, experts noted the failure of test scores among respondents aged 30-34 years, which leads to sad thoughts about the quality of education during perestroika and Yeltsin’s reign. But overall, experts called the results encouraging. Especially against the background of the assessment of schoolchildren’s knowledge carried out a little earlier within the framework of the PISA project.

In 2020, preliminary testing under the new PIAAC program will take place in Russia; 1,500 people will take part in it. And in 2021, our country will join the main study for the second time, the results of which will be summed up in 2023.

Sources:

• Scientists have proven that women are smarter
• About the PIAAC project
• International experts assessed the literacy of Russian residents
• Second cycle of the PIAAC study

When asked why intelligence is stronger, the stronger sex answers, of course, men. But the weaker sex is sure that the ladies are smarter, but they pretend to be stupid so as not to overshadow the men. And who is telling the truth?

Why are there so few women scientists? Not workers of science, but researchers, discoverers? Of course, everyone will immediately remember Sofya Kovalevskaya and Marie Curie. But the small number of female scientists is easy to remember because women in science are the exception rather than the rule. Often this state of affairs is explained by the lower status of women in society, who do not have the opportunity to receive an education and develop. But for about a hundred years there has been no oppression in most countries. There are a lot of female stars, but there are almost no female scientists. It turns out that men are smarter? Let's try to figure it out.

The beginning of the way. From birth to adulthood

Neuropsychologists from St. Petersburg recorded brain impulses of children at the beginning of their life, that is, after birth. They found that the brains of children of different sexes function differently. After analyzing the connection between the capabilities of different parts of the brain, we can conclude what gender the baby is.

Most often, girls develop more actively, and parents themselves notice this. Typically, boys learn to walk 3 months later, and speak 4-6 months later. But there are also exceptions. Everyone will remember among their acquaintances cases when boys began to walk very early and recite rhymes, when other children only babbled. But exceptions confirm the “rule”.

Boys are not able to withstand prolonged emotional stress; at some point their brain turns off their hearing. Therefore, they need to present data accurately and concisely. Boys have higher hearing power, but girls are more sensitive to noise.

The weaker sex is based on near vision. They build houses for dolls and play with them in a small space. The boys use their distant vision: they chase one after another, shoot at targets, etc. It turns out that boys need more space for normal growth than girls.

Why are there differences between the sexes?

But why are such differences necessary? From one point of view, nature needs to consolidate in the individual those indicators that are required for life and transmission to descendants. On the other hand, development requires changes and skills for changing living conditions. Both directions are the embodiment of two different genders. The weaker sex holds in the genes all the main achievements of evolution, and the stronger sex easily forgets the old and remembers the new.

So, it turns out that women are aimed at survival, and men - at development. Everything in the world is balanced. The development of the family requires many women, so nature protects them. But let's look at the research that scientists conducted to answer the question of who is smarter.

Proven: men are smarter than women

Researchers led by F. Rushton (a psychologist from a Canadian university) conducted testing upon entry into university among girls and boys aged 17-18 years. It proved that men are smarter.

Based on the test results, scientists learned that the average level of brain development in guys was 3.6 points higher. This is the "common factor" and is found in every IQ test. According to these theories of intelligence, it indicates an average level of mental development. Psychologists believe that men have a high rate due to the fact that they have more brain tissue. The speed of understanding the data depends on it. On average, men's brains are larger than women's.

Psychologist B. Bracken from Williamsburg College (USA) is confident that in this case the researchers’ opinion regarding the difference in IQ is correct. But he doubts the conclusions. Most likely, the basis lies in variables that are not taken into account by scientists. There was an unequal number of participants of both genders. This experiment would be more credible if it involved the same number of representatives of both sexes of the same level.

However, Rushton is confident that the results of the experiment should not influence educational strategy. He says women have better academic performance.

Proven: women are smarter than men

Another study proves that . This is the first time in 100 years that researchers have recognized that the weaker sex is smarter. New experiments by researchers show that in men only 4-5% of brain cells are functioning, and in weak men - 7%.

Researchers have found over 40 distinctive features between the sexes. What is meant here is not external differences, but differences in the structure of the brain. It is known for certain that in total 5% of human brain cells are functioning. But in the weaker sex, up to 7% of cells function. In addition, women's right hemisphere is more developed, which is why they cope better with language acquisition. This is also the cause of emotionality.

In addition, the main distinguishing feature is the development of intuition. It is she who helps to find a way out when the male mind is not able to do it. Ladies have a natural ability to see and recognize small details. This intuition is especially noticeable in mothers, since at the beginning of a child’s life he can only be understood by signals.

Men tend to generalize, and women tend to analyze. The weaker sex sees the essence of the event, and the stronger only records it, because his intellect functions technically. But it is precisely these differences that help us complement each other.

According to statistics, women have longer life expectancy. This is due to the presence of estrogen, which has a positive effect on metabolic processes. And the loss of blood every month has a positive effect on the functioning of the female bone marrow.

Did you know that:

the weaker sex's sense of smell is better due to the activity of estrogen;
The fairer sex's ear for music is 6 times better developed than that of men;
women need an hour more sleep than men;
Every day the stronger sex speaks about 7 thousand words, and the weaker sex – 3 times more.

Who is smarter?

But who is smarter? Weaker or stronger sex? Thanks to scientific research, it becomes clear that the average intelligence of both sexes is the same. But why are there so few women scientists? And the answer is simple. We have the same mind, but we use it differently. To understand the differences, you need to look at history.

What did men and women do in ancient times? The stronger sex went hunting, explored the area, and fought with the enemy. Women sat at home, cooked dinner, sewed clothes, etc.

The mind of men is aimed at research, finding solutions and answers to questions. Women are better at solving similar tasks. This does not indicate that someone’s intelligence is worse, both intelligences work in connection and help each other. Men discover, find, conquer, and women are busy mastering.

From this difference in the use of intelligence, legends arise that men do not like smart ladies. This is not true, not true at all. Men like different women. The only thing they don’t like is if a woman’s mind is masculine.

It is clear that statistics are a type of lie, but still the data from patent information on the sex ratio of inventors is surprising. What do you think is the ratio of men to women among patent holders? 50/50? No!

Abroad

According to foreign patent offices, there are much fewer women inventors than men. According to the US Patent Office, only 10.3% of patents have at least one of the authors being a woman.
According to statistics from the European Patent Office, the data looks even sadder: 8.8% for patents from America, the highest figures for Spain (12.3%) and France (10.2%), and the lowest for Austria (3.2%) and Germany (4.7%).

If you look at the statistics of patents that turned out to be commercially applicable, the gap becomes even larger - only 5.5% of patents are “female” ones.

What explains this imbalance?

At the very end of the 18th century, the world learned about a Protestant religious sect called the Shakers. The main thing in the organization was the arrangement of life in it. There was equality between the sexes, and hard work was evenly distributed. There was also such a community in Massachusetts, where Tabitha Babbitt lived. She worked as a weaver, but in 1810 she found a way to make her brothers' work easier. The woman watched for a long time as the men sawed the logs with a two-handed saw, moving it first in one direction, then in the other. Although the load on people was distributed evenly, the actual cutting took place only at the moment the saw moved forward. When I moved backwards, it had no effect on the log. Tabitha quickly realized that people were wasting their energy. She came up with a prototype for a circular saw. Later it was successfully used in the sawmill industry. Babbitt proposed creating a saw with a circular blade. Now every movement of the tool on the wood received meaning. But the commandments of the community were quite strict, they prevented Babbitt from obtaining her legal patent.

Stephanie Kwolek

Stephanie Kwolek remains in human history as the inventor of Kevlar.
Kevlar is a special organic fiber that has extraordinary strength, good flexibility and very light weight. For example, Kevlar is five times stronger than steel. And most of all, Kevlar has found its application in military uniforms - in particular, in Kevlar body armor. And her invention saved many lives.
The most surprising thing is that Kwolek did not work in the military industry at all. She was just trying to find... a substitute for rubber car tires (this was just after the oil crisis broke out).

General Electric's first female scientist, Katherine Blodgett, discovered a way to transfer thin monomolecular films to glass and metal in 1935. The result is glass that does not reflect or distort the image. It revolutionized the production of cameras, microscopes, glasses and much more.

Josephine Cochran

The first dishwasher, patented in 1886, combined a boiler for heating water, a unit for supplying it under pressure, a wheel and a grid similar to those still used for drying dishes. Only 40 years later, the Cochrane device was recognized as a necessary thing in the household. The inventor, Josephine Cochran, never used it herself, but made life much easier for her maids.

Nicole Barbier Clicquot

In 1808, she developed the “remuage” technology, thanks to which champagne gets rid of sediment in three months and becomes crystal clear, and was a real success, significantly improving the quality of the drink.

The first windshield wipers for automobiles were invented by Mary Anderson in 1903. She felt sorry for the driver, who was forced to stop the car every minute during a blizzard and shovel snow from the windshield.

The most significant invention of the 20th century, which had the greatest impact on people's lives, was diapers (!) on the account of a woman.
Men simply cannot think of such an invention (as well as a bra and feminine hygiene products), since this is not their headache at all.

What about in Russia?

Rospatent does not incite gender hatred and does not provide statistics on the distribution of patents for men and women. At our own risk, we calculated the domestic gender gap using the example of the last 50 issued Russian patents for inventions. It turned out to be approximately the same as in foreign patent offices - 12%. Moreover, a significant contribution to the share of women’s patents in our sample was made by inventors from France. Interestingly, there is not a single “purely female patent”.

The “Atlas of the Cultural History of Russia” (1993), covering the period from the end of the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century, mentions 2,560 prominent figures in almost all branches of science and culture; 7.7% of the total number of personalities are women. In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia of voluminous biographies (more than 1500 characters) there were 2107, of which 66 were women, which amounted to 3.1%.

It will be even more appropriate to remember our outstanding women inventors.

Zinaida Ermolyeva
Inventor of antibiotics

Microbiologist, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR, academician, State Prize laureate. Born on October 24, 1898 in the Frolov farmstead, now Archeda station, in the family of a railway worker. As a child, she was of a cheerful disposition, sympathetic and kind, then she grew up and became the first dancer. She loved Tchaikovsky's "Sentimental Waltz" and showed great interest in wildlife.
Ermolyeva’s inquisitive mind led her to the medical department of Rostov University, where she became seriously interested in microbiology: she was drawn to the unknown, of which there was a lot in this science at that time. Her first work, “On the biology of Vibrio cholerae based on materials from the 1922 epidemic in Rostov-on-Don,” later resulted in a large monograph, which determined her scientific destiny for a long time.
The path to science was thorny. Ermolyeva became interested in cholera-like vibrios and decided to conduct an experiment on herself: she took four billion microbial bodies of such vibrios on an empty stomach. The classic picture of cholera disease developed, but the young body withstood this test. Soon, from the pen of Z. V. Ermolyeva, a large monograph “Cholera” was published.
In 1942, when Stalingrad became a front-line point for evacuees, Professor Ermolyeva was sent here to prevent cholera among the population. The emergency commission was headed by the Deputy People's Commissar of Health. All measures were taken: in Stalingrad itself, the production of cholera bacteriophage was established. 50 thousand people received this life-saving vaccine every day - it was truly a feat of Soviet doctors, a feat of medicine. Ermolyeva spent six months in besieged Stalingrad.
Seeing the new and the most important was the main characteristic of the scientist. The most necessary thing during the war was assistance to the wounded who were dying from sepsis. Intense, nightly work in the laboratory - and Ermolyeva’s team receives the first domestic penicillin. But Ermolyeva not only received it, but also established its industrial production, which saved thousands of lives of our soldiers from certain death.
The war is over, and Ermolyeva is among those who build. Among the builders of the Volga-Don canal, she carried out preventive work against epidemics. It is she who took the lead in the study of interferon as an antiviral agent. Zinaida Vissarionovna was well known in Stalingrad and Astrakhan, she performed in Paris, Prague, Geneva, where she represented Soviet science, and was an active public figure.
Two Orders of Lenin, including for work in Stalingrad, for her scientific feat, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Badge of Honor, medals. Based on the life of Ermolyeva, writer A.V. wrote his “Open Book”. Kaverin.

Anna Mezhlumova
Soviet chemist

During her experiments, Anna Mezhlumova managed to obtain high-octane gasoline for the first time in history.
It's no secret that the power source for a car engine is liquid or gas fuel, most often gasoline. The most important indicator of its quality is its tendency to explode, and this tendency is determined by the so-called octane number. And the higher it is, the less likely it is that gasoline will explode.
Therefore, at present, almost all engines of modern cars run on high-octane gasoline (the famous 92nd and 95th gasoline), which promotes speed, faster acceleration and less engine wear.
At the same time, unfortunately, the name of Anna Mezhlumova is practically unknown to anyone. In one of the last surviving interviews, in 2006, Anna Ilyinichna said that she lives with her son in a room in a communal apartment and is proud that at 92 years old she still remembers all the chemical formulas. It was not possible to find more up-to-date information about her.

Fatima Aslanbekovna Butaeva

Fatima Aslanbekovna Butaeva is a Soviet physicist and inventor, laureate of the Stalin Prize.
The future researcher was born in Alagir, her father Aslanbek Butaev is a prominent lawyer and journalist, a friend of Kosta Khetagurov, the founder and editor of the first newspaper in the Ossetian language, Iron Gazette.
In 1925, Fatima Butaeva entered the Gorsky Pedagogical Institute, then continued her studies at the physics and mathematics department of the Second Moscow State University.
In 1934, her research activities began at the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute in the laboratory of light sources under the guidance of the prominent scientist V. A. Fabrikant.
Fatima Butaeva went from engineer to laboratory manager.
For a number of years, she and a group of scientists conducted research on the luminescence of various phosphors in the optical region of the spectrum. The practical result of this work is the development and start of production of the first fluorescent lamps, or fluorescent lamps, in the USSR.
In 1951, Fatima Butaeva participated in the invention of the first laser installation - a “pulse charge apparatus for light amplification.” Soviet scientists developed a method for amplifying electromagnetic radiation, which is used in all lasers today.
This work was in many ways ahead of its time and received recognition only years later, in 1964, when a group of scientists, including Fatima Butaeva, was awarded a diploma of scientific discovery.

Natalya Vladimirovna Malysheva

Natalya Vladimirovna Malysheva (December 12, 1921, Crimea - February 4, 2012) - Soviet rocket engine designer, later - nun Adriana. N.V. Malysheva was born in Crimea, in the family of a zemstvo doctor. Since childhood, I have been involved in swimming and gymnastics, skiing, and shooting. She graduated from nursing courses and passed the GTO standards. Malysheva entered the Moscow Aviation Institute.
In 1941 she went to the front. She served in divisional intelligence in the Volokolamsk direction. In June 1942, she was sent to a 3-month course at the intelligence school in Gireevo. After them, she served in the army intelligence of the 16th Army (2 formations), commanded by Rokossovsky. She finished the war as a lieutenant.
After the Victory, until 1949, she served in Poland, in Upper Silesia. In 1949 she was transferred to Potsdam and rose to the rank of captain.
After leaving the army, she returned to MAI immediately for her third year, graduated and began working as a distribution designer for rocket engines at NII-88 in Podlipki (now Korolev). Natalya Vladimirovna has worked in this field for 35 years.
Design engineer Malysheva participated in the creation of engines for maneuvering and braking in orbit of the first ballistic missiles and spacecraft, including for Gagarin’s Vostok. She was the only woman on the state commission for testing missile systems. N.V. Malysheva participated in the creation of engines for the S-75 anti-aircraft missile system of Petr Grushin. She was awarded an order for this engine.
In retirement, she helped organize the courtyard of the Holy Dormition Pyukhtitsa Convent in Moscow and remained here to serve as a simple nun, taking monastic vows under the name Adrian. Mother Adriana became the laureate of the international award “For Faith and Fidelity”, established by the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation.

Fundamental questions of women's creative path

A very interesting report on the topic "

When asked: who is smarter - men or women - men unanimously answer that they are representatives of the stronger half of humanity. Women answer that, of course, they are smarter, but they often pretend to be stupid so that men do not develop complexes. And which one is right? Let's see what scientists think about this and try to find an objective answer.

It all starts at birth

St. Petersburg neuropsychologists, recording the biocurrents of the brain of newborn children, discovered that the brains of boys and girls work differently.

By analyzing the interaction of electrical potentials in different areas of the cerebral cortex, we can tell what gender this baby is.

For the most part, girls develop much faster than boys; parents of children of different sexes can notice this. As a rule, boys begin to walk 2-3 months later than girls, and speak 4-6 months later. Although there are exceptions: for example, everyone can probably remember a boy they know who went abnormally early and recited poems at a children's matinee, when his peers could not connect two words yet - but this only confirms the “rule”.

Boys cannot withstand long-term emotional stress; at certain moments, their brain turns off the auditory canal and they stop hearing, so they need to present information briefly and accurately. Boys have higher hearing acuity, but girls are more sensitive to noise.

Girls rely on their near vision: they lay out dolls in a limited space and build houses for them. The boys rely on distant vision: they run after each other, throw objects and shoot at a target. Boys, in principle, require more space for full mental development than girls.

Why such differences?

Nature, on the one hand, needs to consolidate in a person the characteristics that he needs for existence and pass them on by inheritance. On the other hand, progress implies further changes, a variety of skills for new conditions and an expansion of the habitat. These two trends embody the male and female genders. The female sex retains in its genetic memory all the most valuable acquisitions of evolution, while the male sex, on the contrary, easily loses the old and acquires the new.

Thus, women are focused on survival, men - on progress. In nature, everything is thought out to the smallest detail: many women are needed to continue the species. Therefore, nature protects the female sex, but it “does not feel sorry for” men.

All the “novelties” of evolution are “worked out” on male individuals. Women seem to be more alike, while men have more both beneficial and harmful mutations. A man's brain is larger and more developed, but less reliable and very vulnerable. With all the changes, men suffer more. Apparently, this is why the number of grandmothers is always greater than grandfathers. But nature endowed men with searching behavior - so that they could survive by finding another habitat, where it was warmer and more nourishing. Therefore, men are inclined to explore new spaces, take risky actions, they are smarter in difficult situations and know how to make unconventional decisions.

Studies have shown that already 6-year-old boys have spatial perception and thinking, but girls do not have this even at 13 years old. Therefore, boys more often solve geometric problems using spatial methods: they mentally rotate the figures and superimpose them on one another. And girls, including female teachers, designate angles and sides with letters and then operate with letter symbols and theorem templates.

Alternative opinion

Science says: there is no evidence that women’s brains are structured fundamentally differently than men’s. However, it is obvious that men and women differ from each other not only in appearance. What is the reason for these differences is a controversial issue, there are many convincing arguments in favor of the fact that society makes men and women different.

Anthropologists were able to discover tribes where male and female roles had nothing in common with the ideas accepted in our culture on this matter: muscular women warriors and touching men concerned with raising their offspring. Or, for example, American feminists: they really managed to ensure that the boundaries of sexual differences became more blurred. At the same time, they acted exclusively through social means. So phrases about a weak and defenseless woman and a strong winning man are nothing more than cultural cliches.

Geographical factor

It is a generally accepted belief that men are stronger than women in mathematics, and there are many examples to support this. But American scientists have found that the difference between the sexes in mathematics knowledge disappears in countries where women have more opportunities: simply put, intelligence is influenced by geographic factors. “In communities where there is equal treatment of women, we found that girls have the same level of subject knowledge as boys and even perform better in reading,” said Paola Sapienza, co-author of the study and assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Northwestern University in the US. In all countries, girls have better reading scores than boys. But in some countries, girls' success in mathematics is not only the same as that of boys, but even exceeds them. For example, in Iceland, girls score on average 14.5 points more on a test than boys.

In Norway and Sweden, where there are more economic, educational and political opportunities for women, the gender gap in math proficiency is disappearing. At the same time, in states where women have fewer rights, the level of knowledge in mathematics among girls is lower. For example, in Turkey, on average, girls score 22.6 points less in tests in this subject than boys. Despite such statistical results in developed countries, Paola Sapienza does not dare to assert that girls are smarter than boys when other conditions are the same. In her opinion, girls simply spend more time doing homework. Paola Sapienza said she studied the test results of 15-year-olds because it is at this age that math scores begin to differ along gender lines. In primary school there is no evidence of a difference between boys' and girls' performance in mathematics.

In favor of both

American researchers analyzed 120 psychological indicators in men and women and found differences in only two - sexuality and aggressiveness. But they have nothing to do with mind or intellect. It just so happened historically that a man creates, and a woman preserves and develops what he “has done.” Since cave times, a man has been building, fighting, attacking (here one cannot do without strategy and calculations), and meanwhile a woman is inhabiting her cave, preserving the wealth that the man brought, increasing it whenever possible.

According to psychologists, a small difference in abilities makes itself felt only at extremely high levels of intellectual development. Therefore, the ratio of male and female Nobel Prize winners is 10 to 1.

And in general, research by psychologists at University College London has shown that differences in the intellectual abilities of men and women are more likely to be subjective than objective. Despite the fact that Englishman John Philip Rushton, a doctor of science in the field of social psychology, believes that the stronger sex has a higher level of intelligence (he found that boys have an IQ on average 3.63 points higher than girls), - in Russia this account is a different opinion. For example, Andrei Matveev, candidate of medical sciences, head of the psychiatry office at the Central Clinical Hospital of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, says: “You cannot rely on IQ, which shows the level of intelligence. Mind and intelligence are different concepts and sometimes independent of each other. Intelligence is the sum of acquired knowledge. And intelligence is rather a natural gift. There are cases when smart people who have no education and, accordingly, have low intelligence, became, for example, major political figures. I am sure that it is unscientific to determine intelligence by IQ. Psychiatrists have long believed that this is not true. the test is outdated and popular only because nothing better has been invented to date. For me, IQ is just another equalizer, like exams that people with average abilities often pass, but geniuses fail.

The volume and weight of the brain are not related to the level of intelligence - this is what doctors believe. The main thing is not weight, but functionality. Proof of this is, for example, the brain of Turgenev, whose weight was significantly below normal."

And yet, who is smarter?

For decades, scientists and doctors have been trying to find an answer to a seemingly philosophical question: who is smarter, men or women, and every time they discover new facts. Until now, the only correct answer that would suit everyone, and everyone - men and women - would agree with it, has not been found. Men are energetic, aggressive, inventive, logical, precise. They are characterized by such qualities as courage, activity, determination, ambition, speed in decision-making, a penchant for change, and the ability to conquer new things. Women are soft, flexible, aimed at preserving what has been achieved, accepting and filling the space provided (i.e. activity within boundaries). They are characterized by concern for others, expectation, developed intuition, sensitivity, gullibility, modesty, tolerance, and mystery.

Undoubtedly, they are different. Different in everything and in all respects, because that’s how nature intended. And is there any point in comparing them? Everyone is unique in their own way. A man creates, and a woman preserves. Men complement women, and women complement men. Like yin and yang. They directly depend on each other, maintain mutual harmony, and are partners in everything. The yin-yang symbol depicts the Universe, consisting of two opposites, which form a whole only in a single combination. Likewise, a man and a woman are two halves of one whole, which can only exist thanks to the presence of each other.

A man and a woman are a couple that not only complements each other, but also has a higher purpose: not to prove who is smarter or more intellectual than whom, but to learn to use their abilities and characteristics - male and female - for the common good.

Text: Alisa Selezneva