Women tend to underestimate their intelligence while men overestimate theirs, says study

An analysis of some 30 studies by British researcher Adrian Furnham, a professor of psychology at University College London, shows that men and women are fairly equal overall in terms of IQ. But women, it seems, underestimate their own candlepower (and that of women in general), while men overestimate theirs.

"What I study is 'perceived intelligence,' essentially how smart people think they are. I analyzed 30 international studies, and what I found was that women, across the world, tend to underplay their intelligence, while men overstate it," Furnham said.

According to the study, men tend to score better on certain specialized skills such as spatial awareness. That means men might be better at reading maps or navigating than women. Women, on the other hand, fare better in language development and emotional intelligence.  

Results also show that on average, women underestimate their IQ scores by about five points while men overestimate their own IQs. Interestingly, a similar pattern has been observed in other countries as well, including Argentina, America, Britain, Japan and Zimbabwe.

"Although [men and women] are on average the same, the people at the very top and the very bottom of the IQ bell curve are more likely to be men. That is a pattern that we see in the university setting, with men either being at the very top of the class or at the bottom," Furnham said.