Why women score lower in technical aptitude tests

Boys are more interested in technical things as compared to girls, which is the root cause as to why boys fare better in technical aptitude tests, a new research has claimed.

According to Frank Schmidt from the University of Iowa, author of the new paper, aptitude tests predict how well people will do in schools and on jobs, and doing well in them depends on general intelligence rather than specific aptitudes.

“The factors that are measured by the specific aptitude tests independent of the general intelligence component in these tests don’t make any contribution to job performance,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt analysed data from the 10 subtest Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, to look at how men and women differed on the tests, including those on technical aptitude.

He found that at all intelligence levels women score lower on technical aptitude than men at that intelligence level and that at all levels of technical aptitude women had higher levels of general intelligence.

Schmidt’s theory posits that the difference stems from sex differences in interest in technical pursuits, which leads people to acquire technical experience, which in turn increases technical aptitude scores.

He presented evidence that among men technical experience does lead to better scores on technical aptitude tests. To find out for sure, someone would have to do a long-term study looking at whether early interests develop into later aptitudes, as opposed to the opposite theory that aptitudes cause interests.

“The research shows it’s very hard to change people’s interests,” he said.

“They’re pretty stable and they form pretty early in life,” he added.

The study has been published in Perspectives on Psychological Science.