ARE BOYS SMARTER THAN GIRLS?

ARE BOYS SMARTER THAN GIRLS?

The stereotype that men are smarter than women has a long history, but in the battle of sexes, who actually has the superior intellect when it comes down to it?
ARE BOYS SMARTER THAN GIRLS?
Early studies show that male brains are 8 to 13 percent larger in volume than female brains, however this has been since attributed to differences in body size. Women’s brains have more gyrofication or brain folding, and as a result, a greater cortical surface area.
Besides, bigger isn't always better. Sperm whales, elephants and dolphins all have larger brains than humans, and while they are smart, their cognitive abilities are less than our own. 
There are other structural differences, like males having more connections within hemispheres, while women have more connections between hemispheres. But overall, MRI brain imaging shows significant overlap in the physical structure between the sexes. After studying 14 hundred brains and comparing the sexes, researchers found that mostly all men and women show a mosaic of female and male typical structure in the brain. The study also evaluated gender stereotypical behaviors. Like how video games are often considered male behavior while scrap booking is female and the results found that 0.1% of the test subjects displayed only male or only female typical behaviors. 

• IQ TEST

Tests on intelligence find similar results with major IQ studies showing negligible, or no sex differences in general intelligence but do women having stronger verbal abilities while men show stronger visual-spatial abilities. Interestingly, studies show more male variance in tests with their scores being both the worst and the best.
One  meta analysis of 22 studies did find men to be 3.3 to 5.5 IQ points above women but this study has been called into question by academics who found the methodology flawed.

• ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

 In academic performance of language, math and science, women consistently received better grade in 70% of nations. But on SAT testing in the U.S. men scored 33 points higher in math and science. Other tests like the Program for International student assessment showed both sexes performing equally in several countries with girls performing better some like Iceland suggesting cultural and environmental differences and not necessarily biological differences at play.



But research has found that stereotypes about women's performance actually impact how well they do. When told that a particular math test had significant gender differences, women performed significantly worse than their male peers. While women who were told there was no difference, scored the same. This phenomenon is known as the Stereotype Threat. Even Google search data shows that parents 2.5 times likely to search Is my son gifted?' than 'Is my daughter gifted?' despite 11% more girls in gifted programs in America. And girls pick up on these bias as early as 6 years old. When told a story at age 5 about a person who is really really smart both boys and girls associate intelligence with there own gender but by age 6 both girls ans boys picked a male character as the smartest. 
In a similar experiment, kids were asked if they wanted to play a game for people who are really really smart and again age 5 both sexes wanted to play but by age 6, girls had decided these games weren't for them. And though women do strive to work in STEM fields studies show they face barriers. In a double blind study, science faculty from research universities rated applications for a lab manager position. What they didn't know is that the applications were randomly assigned either male or female names. As a result, faculty perceived the male applicant names to be significantly more competent, hire able and deserving of mentoring even though the applications with female names were identical. Males were also offered higher starting salaries, an average of 30,000 versus the female 26,000. Though these studies present are sobering reality, research does point to growing equality between the sexes with passing decades and education and in spite of these barriers, women continue to contribute to our collective scientist knowledge. 

• BOTTOM LINE

The male advantage in general intelligence does not emerge until after puberty, because girls mature faster than boys.
 At age 7, the mean IQ for girls is 100.6 while the mean IQ for boys is 99.4.  At age 11, the mean IQ for girls is 100.4 while the mean IQ for boys is 99.6.
However, the sex difference is reversed at age 16. Post puberty, the mean IQ for girls is 99.2 while the mean IQ for boys is 100.8.  Remember, these are the same individuals who are tested at three different ages in their lives.  (And, no, it does not mean that girls become less intelligent after puberty in any absolute terms.The IQs are calculated and normed at each age separately. It only means that girls become less intelligent relative to boys after puberty.)
Because of their faster rate of maturity, girls are more intelligent than boys until puberty, but the male advantage in intelligence emerges when boys are fully mature and become taller than girls.  (You notice that girls tend to be taller than boys at any given age until puberty.)