A new study finds that 6-year-old girls are less likely than boys to think members of their own gender can be brilliant — and they’re more likely than boys to shy away from activities requiring that exceptional intelligence. But by 6 and 7, girls were significantly less likely than boys to associate brilliance with their own gender. The researchers had 64 6- and 7-year-olds play two games — one for “really, really smart” (i.e. “brilliant”) children and one for “children who try really, really hard.” Girls seemed drawn to the ‘hard-working’ game about as much as boys — but they were significantly less interested than boys were in the game for brilliant kids. When the researchers repeated the study with 96 5- and 6-year-olds, however, they found no significant differences in the 5-year-old girls’ and boys’ interest.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 26, 2017 19:51 UTC