The Natural Superiority of Women (36 page)

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Authors: Ashley Montagu

Tags: #Social Science, #Anthropology, #Cultural, #Women's Studies, #test

BOOK: The Natural Superiority of Women
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do males and females differ in the frequency with which they exhibit such traits?
Here it should be pointed out that IQ tests have no scientific value whatever, they do not measure intelligence, what they measure is really information, no more, no less.
Remember that the material that goes into a so-called intelligence test will, to a certain significant extent, be environmental background, past and during the testing itself, health, psychological state, language, and understanding, all of which will influence at any time what is meant by intelligence. It should be emphasized that IQ tests do not measure intelligence, but rather offer an utterly distorted statement of reaction to tests that invariably fail to take into account the schooling and socioeconomic experience, not to mention the life history, of the individual. In a long history of critical studies of this subject, the most recent and most devastating is Elaine and Harry Mensh's
The IQ Mythology: Class, Race and Inequality .

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I have also addressed these issues in the sixth edition of my own,
Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race
(1998).
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IQ tests not only do not measure intelligence, but rather serve to falsify and obscure what should really be understood by intelligence. Whatever intelligence is, if it can be called by a single term, it is much more complex and extensive than a single concept that can be measured and described in a so-called quotient. Hence, comparisons of the differences between the sexes in IQ tests are invalid and should not in any way be trusted. A refreshing challenge to traditional conceptions of intelligence is the work of Howard Gardner of Harvard's Graduate School of Education. His research has led him to conclude that there are at least seven areas of intelligence competence. These multiple intelligences are relatively independent of one another. They are (1) linguistic sensitivity to the meaning and order of words; (2) logicalmathematicalability to handle chains of reasoning and recognize patterns of order; (3) musicalsensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone; (4) bodily-kinestheticability to use the body skillfully and handle objects adroitly: athlete, dancer, surgeon; (5) spatial ability to perceive the world accurately and recreate or transform aspects of that world: sculptor, architect, painter, surveyor; (6) interpersonalability to understand people and relationships: politician, salesman, religious leader; (7) intrapersonalaccess

 

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to one's emotional life as a means to understanding oneself and others: therapist, social worker.

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Gardner's findings make a good deal of sense. He is the first to agree that his theory is not writ in marble, but he has also shown that it has much evidence, drawn from many sources, in support of it, and that it is certainly subject to modification as research continues. I have presented it here because it seems to me that it would constitute a far better assessment of a person's "intellectual" abilities than present tests are capable of achieving, especially judging sex differences. Such sex tests have yet to be made. When they have, I believe they will be found to be more accurate and useful than our current tests in revealing that all studies concerning the comparative differences in intelligence between the sexes have been "barking up the wrong tree." However, even in the interpretation of tests based on Gardner's intelligences, vigilance will continue to be necessary against falling into the customary error of neglecting to consider the individual's socioeconomic and schooling history, not to mention the many other jokers in the pack.
For example, Dr. Deborah Weber of the Department of Psychiatry at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston suggests that rate of maturation rather than gender may be responsible for some of the observed differences in mental abilities between the sexes. It is well known that females mature earlier than males. Weber found that early maturers tend to score higher on verbal tests, while late maturers do better on spatial tasks. A sample of eighty early and late maturing girls and boys was studied. When the subjects were rated along a continuum of maturation, gender made no difference. Early maturers, regardless of sex, scored better on verbal than on spatial tests. Tested for right or left brain lateralization, Weber found that the late maturers were more left-brain lateralized for speech than the early maturers. Weber suggests that rate of maturation rather than sex-related behaviors may play an important role in the organization of higher brain functions.
In what follows I shall set out the facts relating to sex differences in intelligence as they have been arrived at through the standard IQ tests which are so open to criticism. I do so in order that the reader may be able to judge for him-or herself what those differences have been found to be by means of those

 

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highly flawed tests. Throughout the following presentation of the facts, let us always bear in mind the differences that exist in the social environments for males and females, the differences to which they are called upon to adapt themselves. Because the facts are so numerous and complex it will be clearer and more helpful to the reader if I set out those facts in simple, brief sentences. In setting out the IQ findings I have relied entirely upon the admirable presentation of them by Professor Ann Anastasi of Fordham University and the Psychological Corporation. In her classic book,
Differential Psychology,

7
she gives, among many other findings relating to individual and group differences in behavior, a quite comprehensive survey of the scientific findings concerning the intellectual functions of the sexes.

We may as well be prepared for what we are going to findthe cumulative effect of the repeated shock may in this way, for some males, and perhaps even for some women, be assuaged; namely, that with the exception of the tests for arithmetic, mathematics, mechanics, and mazes, females achieve significantly and consistently higher scores on the intelligence tests than males.
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At the ages of two, three, and four the average IQ, as tested by the Kuhlmann-Binet test, is higher for girls than for boys.
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From school age to adult life females obtain a significantly higher average rank on intelligence tests than males.
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On tests designed for testing the intelligence of Army inductees during World War I, the Army Alpha test, New England rural women attained a significantly higher average than the men.
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From infancy to adulthood the female superiority in verbal or linguistic functions is consistent and marked.
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Girls of preschool age have a larger vocabulary than boys.
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Girls on the average begin to talk earlier than boys.
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Girls begin to use sentences earlier than boys and tend to use more words in sentences.
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Girls learn to read earlier and make more rapid progress in reading than boys.
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Girls have few reading difficulties compared with the great number of reading disabilities among boys.
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Girls excel in speed of reading, tests of opposites, analogies, sentence completion, and story completion.

 

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