It is research that is guaranteed to delight men - and infuriate the women in their lives. A controversial new study has claimed that men really are more intelligent than women.

The study concluded that men's IQs are almost four points higher than women's.

British-born researcher John Philippe Rushton, who previously created a furore by suggesting intelligence is influenced by race, says the finding could explain why so few women make it to the top in the workplace.

He claims the 'glass ceiling' phenomenon is probably due to inferior intelligence, rather than discrimination or lack of opportunity.

The University of Western Ontario psychologist reached his conclusion after scrutinizing the results of university aptitude tests taken by 100,000 students aged 17 and 18 of both sexes.

A focus on a factors such as the ability to quickly grasp a complex concept, verbal reasoning skills and creativity - some of the key ingredients of intelligence - revealed the male teenagers had IQs that were an average of 3.63 points higher. The average person has an IQ of around 100.

The findings, which held true for all classes and levels of parental education, overturn a 100 year consensus that men and women average the same in general mental ability. They also conflict with evidence that girls do better in school exams than boys.

But Prof Rushton, who was born in Bournemouth and obtained his doctorate in social psychology from the London School of Economics, argues that the faster maturing of girls leads to them outshining boys in the classroom.

這項研究結果一定會讓男人高興，惹女人生氣。一項具有爭議的最新研究表明，男人確實比女人聰明。

研究發現，男人的智商比女人高四分。

英國籍研究員約翰·菲利普·魯什頓此前提出的"智商受到種族影響"的觀點一時引發眾怒，他說，這項最新研究結果可以解釋為什么很少有女性能成為職場精英。

他說，造成這種"玻璃天花板"現象的原因可能是由于女性的智商不及男性，并不是性別歧視或缺少機會。

這位西安大略大學的心理學家對10萬名17至18歲的男女學生進行了大學智力測試，他在分析測試結果后得出了這個結論。

此項測試著重對學生快速理解復雜概念、語言推理能力和創造力等幾項智力指標進行了考察。結果發現，男學生的智商平均高出3.63分。普通人的智商水平在100分左右。

這項研究結果適用于各類人群和各個年齡階段，同時推翻了長期以來認為"男女智力相當"的普遍觀點。此外，這項研究結果和女孩的考試成績總比男孩好的事實相矛盾。

魯什頓教授他說，女孩比男孩學習好是因為女孩比男孩成熟得早。魯什頓教授出生在伯恩茅斯鎮，在倫敦經濟學院獲得了社會心理學博士學位。

 Vocabulary:

glass ceiling :玻璃天花板；是指在公司企業和機關團體中，限制某些人口群體（女性、少數民族）晉升到高級職位的障礙。正如玻璃一樣，這個障礙雖然不是明文規定的，但卻是實實在在存在著的。