It is a finding certain to be hotly disputed – at least among half the population. According to the latest research, women are brighter than men.

　　For the first time in IQ testing, psychologists have found that female scores have risen above those of men.

　　Since IQ testing began a century ago, women have been as much as five points behind, leading psychologists to suggest embedded genetic differences.

　　But that gap has been narrowing in recent years and this year women have moved ahead, according to James Flynn, a world-renowned authority on IQ tests.

　　‘In the last 100 years the IQ scores of both men and women have risen but women’s have risen faster,’ said Mr Flynn. ‘This is a consequence of modernity. The complexity of the modern world is making our brains adapt and raising our IQ.’

　　One possible explanation is that women’s lives have become more demanding as they multitask between raising a family and doing a job.

　　Another is that women have a slightly higher potential intelligence than men and are only now realising it.

　　Mr Flynn, who will publish his findings in a book, said more data was needed to explain the trend.

　　‘The full effect of modernity on women is only just emerging,’ he added.

　　He collated IQ examination results from countries in western Europe and from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Argentina and Estonia.

　　These showed that in westernised countries the gap in scores between men and women had become minimal.

　　The data for making exact comparisons was sparser and could be carried out for only a handful of countries. It included Australia, where male and female IQs were found to be almost identical. In New Zealand, Estonia and Argentina, women scored marginally more than men.

　　Mr Flynn said: ‘As the world gets more complex, and living in it demands more abstract thought, so people are adapting.’

　　He added: ‘I suspect that the same trends are happening in Britain, too, although the data is too sparse to be sure.'

　　這個發現注定會引起至少一半人的熱議。據最新調查顯示，女人比男人聰明。

　　心理學家發現，女性智商測驗的分數首度超過了男性。

　　自一個世紀前開展智力測試以來，女性智商一直落后男性5分之多，正是這一數據導致心理學家認為男女基因之間存在固有的差異。

　　但世界知名的智力測驗權威詹姆斯•佛林的測驗結果顯示，近年來這一差距正在不斷縮小，女性的得分在今年已經超過了男性。

　　“過去100年來，男女的智商分數都在提高，但女性的分數增長更快。”佛林說，“這是現代化的結果。現代化世界的復雜迫使我們的大腦不斷適應外界的發展，從而提高了我們的智商。”

　　一種可能的解釋是，女性得兼顧家庭和事業，生活壓力更大。

　　另一種解釋是，女性的智商潛力略高于男性，現在才剛剛發揮出來。

　　佛林先生將在新書中發表這一研究結果，但他表示，仍需更多數據來解釋這個趨勢。

　　“現代化對女性的充分影響才剛剛顯現。”他補充道。

　　他對照了在西歐、美國、加拿大、新西蘭、阿根廷和愛沙尼亞進行的智力測驗的結果。

　　這些數據顯示，在西化國家中，男女智商的分差最小。

　　但可用來進行精確比較的數據卻比較缺乏，男女智商的精確對比只能在極少數國家中實施。其中包括澳大利亞，這里的男女智商幾乎相同。在新西蘭、愛沙尼亞、阿根廷，女性智商略高于男性。

　　佛林先生說：“隨著世界變得越發復雜，生活在其中需要更多的抽象思維，人們也因此在不斷地適應。”

　　他補充說：“我認為英國也正經歷著同樣的趨勢，盡管還沒有足夠的數據來確定這一點。”