Lawyers fall behind in IQ study
Lawyers have become less intelligent compared to the average person over thelast decade, research from the Centre for Market and Public Organisation
(CMPO) has revealed.
Lawyers have become less intelligent compared to the average person over the last decade, research from the Centre for Market and Public Organisation
(CMPO) has revealed.
The study compared IQ scores for lawyers born in 1958 to those born in 1970 - who are currently climbing the ranks of law firms and barristers’ chambers.
Lawyers in the earlier group scored 11 per cent better than the average, but the 1970 group were just 8 per cent more intelligent.
This was a greater fall than the majority of other professions where the gap narrowed by around 1 percentage point.
Despite the shrinking ability gap, lawyers are now more likely to have come from a wealthier background than those born in the fifties, with the family income for the parents of lawyers increasing much faster than the average (TheLawyer.com 2 Feb 2009).
Lindsey Macmillan, a researcher at the Bristol University-based CMPO, said:
“Despite the fact that lawyers are looking a lot less like the average person in terms of their family income, they are looking more like the average person in terms of ability.”
The gap in IQ performance compared to the average fell for most other vocations, as well as the law. Doctors, teachers, bankers and stock brokers
all moved closer to average intelligence between the two studies.
Artists, engineers, scientist and journalists have all become more intelligent when compared to average IQ scores, the research found.
(To view a larger version, please click on image)
Source: Social mobility and the Professions, Lindsey Macmillan, CMPO, University of Bristol
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Readers' comments (34)
Anonymous | 27-Feb-2009 3:14 pm
hilarious
This article is actually one of the funniest things I have ever seen. There are so many things I could say to criticise it that my brain is about to explode.
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Proust | 27-Feb-2009 3:31 pm
Intelligence
I would love to see lawyers negotiate the terms of a single bilateral (writer-reader) text without deliberate obfuscation as a means of making money.
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Chris London | 27-Feb-2009 3:32 pm
IQ
I've been a City lawyer for many years and followed this article perfectly until it got to the graph, which befuddled me (I had a bit of trouble with the words too but let's not go there). No problem: I'll get a junior to pull an exec summary together for me.
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Richard Jones | 27-Feb-2009 3:37 pm
question
what is the significance of the years 1958 and 1970?
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City Lawyer | 27-Feb-2009 3:39 pm
Astonishing Accountants!
Well the one good thing this graph does is explain why my accountant is so goddamn thick.
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Major Misunderstanding | 27-Feb-2009 3:45 pm
To That Chap That Responded To Me Below...
I notice that you IT people aren't included in this survey. The profession is staffed to the gills with barbarians and luddites.
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Anonymous | 27-Feb-2009 4:09 pm
What was the average?
Quote: "Lawyers in the earlier group scored 11 per cent better than the average, but the 1970 group were just 8 per cent more intelligent." I always thought the average IQ score was 100. On that basis the average lawyer's score would now be 108. The standard deviation for IQ is 15, which means 67% of the population have an IQ between 85 and 115. This means:
(a) either lawyers (and every group in the graph) are of "normal" intelligence; or
(b) the average in the study is not 100 (quite possible, since only results for graduates are given).
Does anyone know what the average was?
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Anonymous | 27-Feb-2009 4:19 pm
How the braggarts are fallen ...
Well done, The Lawyer. You send me an email linking this story, and take the opportunity to boast about how much smarter journalists are, but fail to spell "Bloggs" consistently. Own goal, much?
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'ooray Henri | 27-Feb-2009 4:34 pm
Two points
1) Firstly, what is the CMPO, and why should we take it seriously? It's not a 'known name'.
2) The fact that only the years 1958 and 1970 have been chosen suggests that there is a lack of relevant information to go on, which very much compromises this research. The years are 12 years apart, and the nearer of the two 39 years ago. What have they got to do with anything?
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Anonymous | 27-Feb-2009 4:47 pm
Who defines Intelligence?
What I would like to know is...who decides the scales on these so-called measures of IQ? Aren't those criteria for IQ measurement subject to "researcher's bias" by the person who created the scales? I do not believe that IQ alone defines intelligence; that is a rich statement to make! Can intelligence be defined in the first place?
What of the African tribes who survive all sorts of potentially dangerous encounters in the bush (where us Westerners would probably end up being mauled by a lion or something) but who can't read - does that make them less "intelligent?"
My "profession" isn't listed in any of the categories; I'm "only" a legal PA but would like to think, an intelligent one at that :-)
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