Men vs women - level 3
Among many things, it's something that's always annoyed women about men – some of them think they're so clever! Well, research has finally shown that men overestimate their intelligence whereas women apparently have an accurate gauge of their brain power.
A study carried out at Washington State University asked men and women to take a maths test and then guess how well they'd done. The guinea pig men and women were then told their scores and asked to take another test. During the second, there was no information offered about how they'd done. And it turns out the men consistently thought they'd done better than they actually had. The women, however, guessed with far more precision how well they did.
The report basically says that gender gaps in areas like science, engineering, and maths are not necessarily the results of women having low self-esteem when it comes to their ability, since their estimations were right on the money. It's just that men think too highly of theirs.
Some of you will probably argue. Yes, the study is pretty flawed – what is asking 122 people to take a maths test really show in the grand scheme of things?
But the researchers say it also shows the potential need for positive illusions. So, if you kid yourself enough, it seems you might well continue to pursue scientific studies even if your initial results aren’t that good.
Difficult words: annoy (to make somebody little angry), gauge (an instrument that measures something), guinea pig (tested), self-esteem (self-respect), right on the money idiom (correct), flawed (having mistakes), in the grand scheme of things idiom (when you put things into perspective; look at the big picture), positive illusion (when you tell yourself something to make yourself feel good and it helps you in your life).