Professor Phillipe Rushton
Psychology Department
University of Western Ontario
1151 Richmond Street, Suite 2,
London, Ontario
Canada
N6A 5B8
Dear Professor Rushton,
I read about your recent study that supports the idea that men are smarter than women. I do not claim to know whether this is true or false, but I am writing to point out a potential problem with your conclusions. The report I read cites Virginia psychologist Bruce Bracken’s argument that your subject sample may have been unbalanced, and may not have taken into consideration a number of variables, such as the higher number of women choosing to go to college than men. If more men were trying to get into college and taking the SAT, perhaps the scores would even out.
You do admit that the differences you found in test scores do not really show up as a disparity in intelligence in the real world. You argue, however, that it shows up “at the very high end of the distribution,” and you use as evidence the fact that ten times more men than women have won the Nobel Prize. I find this to be a shaky argument, since the reason for this more likely lies in societal factors than differences in actual intelligence.
Universities, and certainly other venues, have seen a gender bias that I am certain goes back generations. The lack of Nobel Prize-winning women is most likely largely the fault of a culture that does not take women’s achievements seriously.
I am curious to know what your take is on the recent finding that excess testosterone kills brain cells, while estrogen is neuroprotective.
It may not be very scientific, but if the studies being conducted do not translate to the real world, perhaps we should start with real world examples and work backward. I would argue, for example, that activities such as crushing cars with oversized trucks and going to war are not very intelligent, and may be the result of people with too much testosterone making decisions. Men tend to seek wealth and power. It has been proven countless times that this pursuit rarely leads to more happiness, one of the main abstract elements that humans seek after food and shelter. The founder of Craigslist, with his lack of desire to “cash in,” is an example of someone (a man!) who recognizes this, as is the Russian mathematician who declined a million dollar reward for his work. These men are the exception to the rule, as most wealth-hungry CEOs and warmongering leaders are men. So could it not be seen as unintelligent to engage in ambitious male-dominated activities? There may never be a way to know any of this for sure. Just some theories I had.
Truly,
Liz Mann
