The measurement of intelligence : $b an explanation of and a complete guide for the use of the Standard revision and extension of the Binet-Simon intelligence scaleTerman, Lewis M. (Lewis Madison)
Science
The measurement of intelligence : $b an explanation of and a complete guide for the use of the Standard revision and extension of the Binet-Simon intelligence scale
2. However, the superiority of girls over boys is so slight (amounting
at most ages to only 2 to 3 points in terms of I Q) that for practical
purposes it would seem negligible. This offers no support to the opinion
expressed by Yerkes and Bridges that "at certain ages serious injustice
will be done individuals by evaluating their scores in the light of
norms which do not take account of sex differences."
3. Apart from the small superiority of girls, the distribution of
intelligence in the two sexes is not different. The supposed wider
variation of boys is not found. Girls do not group themselves about the
median more closely than do boys. The range of I Q including the middle
fifty per cent is approximately the same for the two sexes.[24]
[24] For an extensive summary of other data on the variability of the
sexes see the article by Leta S. Hollingworth, in _The American Journal
of Sociology_ (January, 1914), pp. 510-30. It is shown that the findings
of others support the conclusions set forth above.
4. When the results for the individual tests were examined, it was found
that not many showed very extreme differences as to the per cent of boys
and girls passing. In a few cases, however, the difference was rather
marked.
The boys were decidedly better in arithmetical reasoning, giving
differences between a president and a king, solving the form board,
making change, reversing hands of clock, finding similarities, and
solving the "induction test." The girls were superior in drawing designs
from memory, æsthetic comparison, comparing objects from memory,
answering the "comprehension questions," repeating digits and sentences,
tying a bow-knot, and finding rhymes.
Accordingly, our data, which for the most part agree with the results of
others, justify the conclusion that the intelligence of girls, at least
up to 14 years, does not differ materially from that of boys either as
regards the average level or the range of distribution. It may still be
argued that the mental development of boys beyond the age of 14 years
lasts longer and extends farther than in the case of girls, but as a
matter of fact this opinion receives little support from such tests as
have been made on men and women college students.
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