A Comparison of Self-Estimated IQ Scores

This study compares self-estimated IQ scores of participants and their parents, analyzing the effect of self-concept and gender stereotyping. The results reveal a significant difference in estimated IQ scores between fathers and mothers, and participants estimated their own IQ scores greater than their mothers'. The study has some limitations and future studies can include cultural background and childhood information.

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A comparison of self-estimated IQ scores
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Abstract
The spatial capability of human being indicates its intelligence level. The self-concept, gender
stereotype society assesses itself based on self-determined parameters. The purpose of the study
was to scrutinize the effect of self-concept and gender stereotyping in estimating intelligence
scores of the participants. Forty participants were chosen from the university campus for the
purpose of the study (Marcia, 2017). Estimated IQ scores of self along with that of their fathers
and mothers revealed that human society is still in favor of masculinity rather than femininity.
Independent t-tests found a significant difference in estimated IQ scores between participants and
their mothers. Fathers were estimated to be more intelligent than mothers, but no significant
difference in estimated IQ scores was observed between the participants and their fathers.
Gender wise comparison did not yield any significant result.
Keywords: Intelligence, gender, Self-estimated IQ, Gender stereotype, Self-concept

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Introduction:
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).

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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.
Hypotheses
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

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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.
Method
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,

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1. Please estimate your own IQ score on a scale of 100, where 100 is maximum national average IQ
score.
2. Please estimate your father’s IQ score on a scale of 100, where 100 is maximum national average
IQ score.
3. 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.
Results
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.
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,

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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.
Discussion
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

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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 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,

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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).

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Reference
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.

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Noble, H., Whitley, E., Norton, S., & Thompson, M. (2011). A study of preoperative factors
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Appendix
Table 1: Descriptive Statistics for Participants
Table 2: Own IQ Gender wise
Gender N Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
Q1_Self Male 20 121.35 6.596 1.475
Femal
e
20 116.90 9.673 2.163
Table 3: Father vs Mother IQ
Subject_Father_Mothe
r N Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
Score_Q2 mother 40 107.38 6.075 .961
father 40 117.95 7.197 1.138
Table 4: Father vs Own IQ
Subject_Self_Father N Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
Score_Q3 self 40 119.13 8.477 1.340
father 40 117.95 7.197 1.138
Table 5: Own vs Mother IQ
Subject_Self_Mother N Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
Score_Q4 Self 40 119.13 8.477 1.340
Mother 40 107.38 6.075 .961
N Minimum Maximum Mean
Std.
Deviation
Age 40 18 34 24.80 4.375
Participant 40 1 40 20.50 11.690
Valid N
(listwise)
40

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Table 6: Independent Samples Test for Own IQ Gender wise
Own IQ Gender wise
Levene's Test
for Equality of
Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df
Sig.
(2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Difference
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Q1_Sel
f
Equal
variances
assumed
3.812 .058 1.700 38 .097 4.450 2.618 -.850 9.750
Equal
variances
not
assumed
1.700 33.52
7 .098 4.450 2.618 -.873 9.773
Table 7: Independent Samples Test for Mother vs Father IQ
Mother vs Father IQ
Levene's Test
for Equality of
Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df
Sig.
(2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Difference
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Score_Q2
Equal
variances
assumed
2.472 .120 -
7.102 78 .000 -10.575 1.489 -13.540 -7.610
Equal
variances
not
assumed
-
7.102 75.863 .000 -10.575 1.489 -13.541 -7.609
Table 8: Independent Samples Test for Father vs Own IQ
Father vs Own IQ Levene's Test
for Equality of
Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df Sig.
(2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Difference
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference

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Lower Upper
Score_Q3
Equal
variances
assumed
.879 .351 .668 78 .506 1.175 1.758 -2.325 4.675
Equal
variances
not
assumed
.668 75.999 .506 1.175 1.758 -2.327 4.677
Table 9: Independent Samples Test for Own vs Mother IQ
Own vs Mother IQ
Levene's Test
for Equality of
Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df
Sig.
(2-
tailed)
Mean
Difference
Std. Error
Difference
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Score_Q4
Equal
variances
assumed
5.342 .023 7.126 78 .000 11.750 1.649 8.467 15.033
Equal
variances
not
assumed
7.126 70.700 .000 11.750 1.649 8.462 15.038