Daily Mail
Study: Being in a group lowers intelligence — especially for women
‘You may joke about how committee meetings make you feel brain dead, but our findings suggest that they may make you act brain dead as well,’ said Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory and the Computational Psychiatry Unit at the institute, who led the study…
The women and men both had the same baseline IQ scores, but more women fell into the lower performing group.
Lead authoer Kenneth Kishida added: ‘Our study highlights the unexpected and dramatic consequences even subtle social signals in group settings may have on individual cognitive functioning.









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No kidding?
Atlas on January 23, 2012 at 5:38 PM
i think it depends on WHO is in the group and WHAT the group is trying to do. sometimes a group is helpful and stimulates ideas. other times, the group drags you down.
Sachiko on January 23, 2012 at 5:40 PM
Group
think?Chip on January 23, 2012 at 5:41 PM
Does commenting on HotAir constitute a group?
Night Owl on January 23, 2012 at 5:43 PM
Seriously, haven’t we had Enough stories on the OcctoSquatters?
Chip on January 23, 2012 at 5:44 PM
Seemed like a good idea at the time…
JAM on January 23, 2012 at 5:44 PM
Chanting corporate mission statements, as a group, will do it.
a capella on January 23, 2012 at 5:45 PM
No but commenting on ThinkOppression does.
Chip on January 23, 2012 at 5:45 PM
A.K.A Mob rule. Who knew it was a bad idea?
CycloneCDB on January 23, 2012 at 5:46 PM
As proven by every staff meeting…
albill on January 23, 2012 at 5:47 PM
This explains why so many women jumped on the bandwagon for Obama in 2008. The more that women jumped on the bandwagon, the dumber they got, and Obama got elected.
BigSven on January 23, 2012 at 5:54 PM
explains congress?
freshface on January 23, 2012 at 5:54 PM
The saying is “safety in numbers” Not intelligence.
Nathan_OH on January 23, 2012 at 5:59 PM
Hmmmm
“The View” immediately comes to mind..
HotAirian on January 23, 2012 at 6:11 PM
I give you… The Democrats’ electoral strategy….!
JeffWeimer on January 23, 2012 at 6:13 PM
Ever seen woman in a shopping frenzy?
Case closed…
catmman on January 23, 2012 at 6:19 PM
College sororities…
Girls Night Out…
albill on January 23, 2012 at 6:25 PM
Antisocial and brilliant.
I’m fine with it.
MadisonConservative on January 23, 2012 at 6:36 PM
So that explains Code Pink.
Flora Duh on January 23, 2012 at 6:46 PM
I don’t need a scientific study to tell me that trying to DESIGN something in a committee is stupid.
The point of a meeting is to go over the plan and let everybody try to pick holes in it — pretty much the opposite of creativity. Anybody who tries to “brainstorm” with more than one or two people is either trying to hide behind concensus, or artificially fabricate it, or both.
logis on January 23, 2012 at 6:54 PM
“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it.”
Tommy Lee Jones, Men in Black
ZK on January 23, 2012 at 6:56 PM
Petunia,Meredith & Sheryl…..
portlandon on January 23, 2012 at 6:59 PM
I have always asserted that to determine the IQ of any group, you start with the person with the lowest IQ and divide that number by the number of people in the group.
Blight on January 23, 2012 at 7:12 PM
Can’t quite remember who said this one: “A committee is a long, dark alley down which good ideas are lured and quietly strangled.”
Nom de Boom on January 23, 2012 at 7:26 PM
Does commenting on HotAir constitute a group?
Night Owl
I think it does. That would explain alot about my behavior that my friends and children have discussed lately.
Horace on January 23, 2012 at 7:29 PM
I don’t agree with this study.
When I was 16 or 17, five or six of us would pile into a ’60′s power car and drive down the middle of the highway over hills at 90 miles and hour with the Beatles blasting on the radio while gulping beer.
Does that sound like our IQ’s were lowered because we were in a “group?” Are these folks saying we were near-idiots?
Hmmmm.
Horace on January 23, 2012 at 7:32 PM
Blight
LOL! Good one.
It’s like that old definition – “Camel-a horse assembled by a committee.”
Horace on January 23, 2012 at 7:35 PM
Ha, I know what you mean. My daughter keeps coming out of her room to see what I’m laughing about lately.
Night Owl on January 23, 2012 at 7:45 PM