Intelligence and cognitive skills as interrelated characteristics of the human brain
Intelligence and cognitive skills are interrelated characteristics of the human brain. Qualitative and quantitative powers of analysis are the two abilities by which information gets channelized and categorized in the brain. The arithmetic logical part of the brain analyses the numerical sets of information whereas the emotional processor recognizes the social behavioral activities, intelligence is an accumulation of all these activities. From the very beginning of civilization, self-concept has been a spiritual yet behavioral viewpoint. The power of cognitive skills or influence of intelligence has relentlessly struggled to assert the idea of the self-concept from the very beginning of social structuring. The logical part of the brain has religiously failed to arrest the elusive perception of self-concept in humans. Another fallacy of human social system is gender stereotyping; this infectious characteristic has imparted some preset responsibility for both the genders due to which personal attributes of men have injected some norms and profoundly ingrained attitudes towards the opposite sex. The sensitiveness of gender stereotyping has enhanced the attributes of self-concept in men compared to women. In an earlier study by Torrance in 1963 the effect of gender stereotyping was observed. In The self-concept of supremacy in numerical and logical ability by men was clearly identified in his experiment. In the year 2002, Thomas H. Rammsayer re-established self-estimates of exceptional aspects of intelligence in men which was mainly due to gender-role orientation. Roland Neumann (2015) in his research work on gender role orientation reassessed the difference in masculinity and femininity by a task-oriented approach. Gender stereotyping was a relevant outcome of his study. In a rare study, stereotype lift effect was studied and performance of both the genders exhibited a male stereotype effect for a mental rotation test by school children of 9 to 10 years (Sarah Neuburger et al., 2014).
The effect of self-concept on both the genders, while judging their parent’s intelligence, is an interesting field of psychology. In the late eighties, Hogan (1978) revealed that irrespective of category of gender, children rated their father’s intelligence considerably higher judged against their mother. Another study by Furnham et al. in 2002 presented the other side of Hogan’s study. Using a primary survey with British parents and their wards, it was ascertained that parents thought, that their sons had higher IQ levels compared to their daughters, especially in spatial abilities (McKinney & Renk, 2008). In another theory, psychological distress was enlightened by Elise Whitley et al. in 2011, where the relation between childhood IQ and their intellectual anarchy in adulthood was correlated. Parent’s absence during childhood days, poor economic condition or adverse social behavior was some of the reasons for behavioral disorders. Self-concept of this special category of children about their own IQ or their parents IQ resulted in anomalous conclusion (Mazar, Amir & Ariely, 2008). To assess the loopholes in earlier studies, 20 male participants with an average age of 25.5 years (SD = 4.58 years) and 20 female participants with an average of 24.1 years (SD = 4.15 years) were interviewed about their own IQ level and their parent’s (father and mother) IQ level. The results were in line with previous works (Black, Devereux & Salvanes, 2009). Males estimated their own IQ compared to the self-estimation of female IQ. Both the genders estimated their father’s IQ greater than that of their mother’s.
The effect of gender stereotyping on the self-concept of men and women
Four two-tailed hypotheses were tested in the research work. For the first assumption, it was hypothesized that there was no statistically significant difference in IQ scores of self-estimation for males and females, irrespective of their genders. Secondly, it was hypothesized that there was no difference in estimated IQ scores of fathers and mothers by their children. The third null hypothesis was that there will be no statistical difference between estimated IQ scores of participant’s own and that of their father’s. Fourthly, it was hypothesized that there was no statistically significant difference in IQ scores of their own scores and the estimate of their mother’s IQ.
The scholar of the study conducted a workshop where students and teachers of the university were invited. An advertisement was used for this purpose, describing the aim of the research. Total 60 aspiring participants turned up in the workshop. The scholar briefed about the entire study and its purpose. Participants were allowed a break of half an hour to decide and finalize about their participation in the study. Those who already knew about their and their parent’s IQ scores were excluded from the scope of the study. Finally, 40 willing participants aged between 18 to 35 years were selected, 20 of them were males and rests were females. The average age of males was recorded as 25.5 years (SD = 4.58 years) and that of females as 24.1 years (SD = 4.15 years). Maximum age of male participants was 34 years and the minimum was 18 years. The range of the age of female participants was 18-32 years. The willing participants were given the debrief sheet to read, and they were made aware of the fact that the study was done under the supervision of the ethical committee of the university. All of the participants were then interviewed individually by the scholar. The scholar explained all the participants about the concept of IQ scores and afterward asked three open-ended questions related to the research work. The three questions were as follows,
- Please estimate your own IQ score on a scale of 100, where 100 is maximum national average IQ score.
- Please estimate your father’s IQ score on a scale of 100, where 100 is maximum national average IQ score.
- Please estimate your mother’s IQ score on a scale of 100, where 100 is maximum national average IQ score.
The answers were recorded and were kept in the secret locker of the university, only to be used for the purpose of the study.
The IQ scores estimated by the participants were used to test the four null hypotheses of the study. SPSS software package was used as the instrument of the research work and independent t-test was chosen as the statistic for comparison.
Studies on gender role orientation and masculinity-femininity differences
The self-estimated IQ scores were analyzed to find that average self-estimated score of males was 121.35 (SD = 6.6) and that of females was 116.9 (SD = 9.67). An independent two-tailed t-test was performed. The t-value for the difference in estimated IQ score for males and females was 1.7 with the p-value (0.097) greater than 0.05. There was no significant difference in estimated IQ scores of the two genders.
The second hypothesis was tested by independent t-test by comparing average estimated IQ scores for participant’s fathers and mothers. Average estimated IQ score for fathers was 117.95 (SD = 7.2) and for mothers was 107.38 (SD = 6.08). The independent t-test value for the t-statistic was -7.1 with the p-value (0.00) less than 0.05. Hence the null hypothesis was rejected, and it was concluded that estimation of mother’s average IQ score was less than father’s estimated average IQ score.
The average estimated score for IQ of all the participants, irrespective of their genders was 119.13 (SD = 8.5). The t-statistic value for independent t-test comparing estimated own IQ scores and estimated IQ score of fathers was 0.67 with the p-value (0.51) greater than 0.05. There was no significant difference was observed between estimated IQ score of own self and fathers.
The independent t-test was used for comparing estimated IQ scores for participants about their own self and that about their mothers. The t-value of the test was 7.13 with the p-value (0.00) less than 0.05. Therefore, a significant difference in average estimated IQ scores of the participants about their own self and mothers was noticed. The average estimated IQ score of the participants about their own self-was greater than that of their mothers.
The results of the four t-tests revealed some interesting facts for this study. The first test did not find any significant difference in self-estimated IQ scores of the male and female participants 9 Petrides & Furnham, 2000). The result was in contrast with the study result of A Furnham (2000), where average self-estimated IQ score of men was higher compared to that of the women. Barbara Mandell in 2003 conducted a gender comparison for assessing the relationship between leadership style and emotional intelligence but did not get any significant difference in scores between the two genders. The scholar got the t-test result similar to that work. The difference in self-estimated average IQ score for fathers and mothers was significantly different and resembled with the study results of Hogan (1978). The trend of judging fathers as more intelligent, compared to mothers was still visible in the study. The comparative study between self-estimated IQ scores and estimated fathers IQ scores indicated that participants in the study were a bit egotist, there was no significant difference between participants self-estimated score and estimated scores of their fathers. James E.Marcia (2017) worked on identity crisis of humans in the age of adolescence. The discoveries revealed that attitude problems of a person in his/her adolescence force the third type of result. The third null hypothesis of the study got failed to be rejected based on the value of the statistics. The fourth t-test result was obvious and in line with the previous works (Higgins, 1987). Participants estimated their own IQ scores significantly greater than that of their mothers’.
The influence of self-concept on children’s judgment of their parents’ intelligence
The null hypothesis was significantly rejected, which was about the equality of estimated own IQ scores with that of their mothers. The last result reflected the parenting pattern of the parents for the participants as well as the psychological well being in the adolescence.
The study was short of addressing some issues. The cultural background of the participants was not considered, neither, information about their childhood was taken. The peer attachment in the age of adolescence was also not considered (Huesmann, Dubow & Boxer, 2009). The age group of the participants was such that effect of these criterions was important in the self-estimation of IQ of their fathers and mothers. Self-estimation of multiple types of intelligence, especially emotional and logical traits were not included in the scope of the work (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2009). The collected set of data, therefore, was random in nature and thus the results of independent t-tests reflected a general trend, earlier obtained in various studies. In 2016, Anthony J. Amorose conducted a research work on the psychology of sport and exercise. The self-determined motivation of the high school athletes and individual assessment of their father, mother and playing coach was collected. The results went to show the positive effect of sports on the personal and professional relations. The participants of this study were within the age bracket of 18 to 34. Therefore, these important factors could have influenced their perception about their parents. Any future study regarding self-estimated IQ score comparison has a scope to include these above-mentioned factors (Duell et al., 2016).
References
Marcia, J. E. (2017). Ego-Identity Status: Relationship to Change in Self-Esteem. Social Encounters: Contributions to Social Interaction, 340.
Duell, N., Steinberg, L., Chein, J., Al-Hassan, S. M., Bacchini, D., Lei, C., … & Lansford, J. E. (2016). Interaction of reward seeking and self-regulation in the prediction of risk taking: A cross-national test of the dual systems model. Developmental psychology, 52(10), 1593.
Petrides, K. V., & Furnham, A. (2000). Gender differences in measured and self-estimated trait emotional intelligence. Sex roles, 42(5-6), 449-461.
McKinney, C., & Renk, K. (2008). Differential parenting between mothers and fathers: Implications for late adolescents. Journal of Family Issues, 29(6), 806-827.
Huesmann, L. R., Dubow, E. F., & Boxer, P. (2009). Continuity of aggression from childhood to early adulthood as a predictor of life outcomes: Implications for the adolescent?limited and life?course?persistent models. Aggressive behavior, 35(2), 136-149.
Hogan, H. W. (1978). I.Q. Self-estimates of males and females. Journal of Social Psychology, 106, 137-138.
Higgins, L. T. (1987, February 10). The unknowing of intelligence. The Guardian.
Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D. (2008). The dishonesty of honest people: A theory of self-concept maintenance. Journal of marketing research, 45(6), 633-644.
Behm-Morawitz, E., & Mastro, D. (2009). The effects of the sexualization of female video game characters on gender stereotyping and female self-concept. Sex roles, 61(11-12), 808-823.
Black, S. E., Devereux, P. J., & Salvanes, K. G. (2009). Like father, like son? A note on the intergenerational transmission of IQ scores. Economics Letters, 105(1), 138-140.
Noble, H., Whitley, E., Norton, S., & Thompson, M. (2011). A study of preoperative factors associated with a poor outcome following laparoscopic bile duct exploration. Surgical endoscopy, 25(1), 130-139.
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