Thursday, October 7, 2010

Men are such fools

A Gallup Poll from 1946: “Generally speaking, which do you think are more intelligent, men or women?”
40% said men, 21% women, 36% said no difference, and 4% had no opinion.

A Pew Research Center survey from 2008: “Now I would like to ask about some specific characteristics of men and women. For each one that I read, please tell me whether you think it is generally more true of men or more true of women..... intelligent?”
14% said men, 38% women, 45% said equal or it depends, 3% don't know

A big change there. A few other surveys since the 1990s have asked similar questions, with about the same results as the Pew question.

Opinions about racial differences in intelligence have also changed, but in a different way. In 1939 a Fortune surveys asked “Do you think Negroes now generally have higher intelligence than white people, lower, or about the same?
Only 1% said higher, 71% said lower, 22% about the same, and 6% don't know

In 1999 a Newsweek/PSRA poll asked “In general, do you think black people are more intelligent than whites, less intelligent than whites, or about the same?”
3% said more, 1% less, 92% about the same, and 4% don't know

To put it another way, the percent of people who say that there are race differences in intelligence has dropped from over 70% to less than 5%; the percent who say that there are sex differences in intelligence has declined only slightly (61% to 52%), but opinions on which sex is more intelligent have reversed.

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