For more than 30 years, scientist Elsbeth Stern has been researching what constitutes intelligence. How does intelligence work? And what is the story behind the bold thesis that men are more intelligent than women? An interview that will make you smart.
Peasant cunning, common sense or acumen – there are many ways to describe the ability to think. One type of intelligence is scientifically measurable: cognitive intelligence. Elsbeth Stern has been Professor of Teaching and Learning Research at ETH Zurich since 2006. She is considered a luminary in her field.
In the stern podcast “Die Boss”, multi-board member and host Simone Menne speaks with Elsbeth Stern about the definition of intelligence and why social or emotional competence plays no role in her research: “I don’t like it when people talk about social or emotional intelligence. Quite simply because the measuring instruments in this area do not have the quality of the measuring instruments we use for intelligence, i.e. the intelligence tests. We cannot measure emotional and social competence with the same statistical measures as we can with cognitive ability,” says the scientist.
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Almost 70 percent of people had a fairly similar level of intelligence and represented the average. Of the remaining 30 percent, 15 percent were above average and 15 percent below, explains the researcher. If you look at the distribution of intelligence between the sexes, there are no differences in the average. However, research shows: “You can still find differences in the extremes. There are more men in the lower areas and there are clearly more men at the very top. So among the highly gifted, the distribution is no longer 50/50, but is decreasing. But it should be emphasized that there are still women in the highest areas.”
When asked about the claim of many parents to classify their child as above-average intelligent and to want to enable him or her to receive a high school education, Elsbeth Stern says:
“So if you consider that intelligence is normally distributed, then it is of course a perversion in itself to say that half of the students should go to grammar school, because of course you then make the cut where the hump is the biggest.”
What the scientist deduces from this for universities, what role teachers and parents play and what happens when your boss is less intelligent than you are, you can hear in the new episode of star-Podcasts “The Boss – Power is Female”.
In “Die Boss – Power is Female” top women talk among themselves: host and multi-supervisory board member Simone Menne (including BMW, Deutsche Post DHL, Henkel) meets female bosses from all walks of life to talk to them about their lives and careers. “Die Boss” appears every two weeks on Wednesdays on as well as onand all common podcast platforms.
Note from the editors: Der stern belongs to RTL .
Source: Stern
