Intelligent women get less help at work

Study finds intelligence affects workplace treatment

Women with high cognitive scores receive less help and more undermining from teammates than men, according to a study of 826 people in the US and China.

“Women who scored higher on an intelligence test were rated by their teammates as more hostile, received less help and were undermined more often.”

Men with high scores face no negative treatment

Men with high cognitive scores were not rated as hostile or treated less helpfully in either study group.

“Men with high scores did not receive such treatment, and in one group, they were treated better.”

Study methodology details

The research followed 432 US business students on a consulting project and surveyed 394 Chinese employees working in teams.

Social role theory explains findings

Researchers suggest women with high cognitive ability break gender role expectations, leading colleagues to assume they lack warmth.

“It's that automatic, implicit assumption that takes place alongside the presence of intelligence that then drives these more negative interpersonal behaviors”

Women report less help and more undermining

Women with higher scores received less work and personal help and were undermined more often than women with lower scores.

“Women seen as more hostile reported less help, both with their work and on a personal level, and more undermining.”

Cultural differences in treatment

In China, men with high scores received more help and were less often undermined than women with high scores.

“Among the employees in China, men with higher scores were rated as less hostile, received more help and were mistreated less often.”

Experts advise workplace changes

Managers should monitor team dynamics and ask if they would treat a colleague the same if they were male.

“Would they react the same way if that colleague were a man?”