Claims

Factual · Science and research methods

“Females on average perform better than males on a 'theory of mind' test across 57 countries.”

Steven Pinker, posting on X · 27 December 2022 · Post by @sapinker on X, 2022-12-27 (X)

A new big-data study by a team including Simon Baron-Cohen found females on average outperform males on a 'theory of mind' test across 57 countries.

Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.

What would count as true or false

True: a big-data study published shortly before 27 December 2022, with Simon Baron-Cohen among the authors, tested theory of mind (for example with the 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' test) in participants from 57 countries and reported that females on average scored higher than males across those countries. Mostly true: such a study exists and reports the female advantage, but a minor detail is off, for example a slightly different country count, or the advantage held in most countries but not literally all. Mixed: the study exists, but its headline finding on sex differences is substantially weaker or more qualified than stated. Mostly false: a related study exists, but it lacks Baron-Cohen, covers far fewer countries, or did not find a general female advantage. False: no such study exists, or it found no female advantage or a male advantage.

Evidence

1. Females perform better than males on a ‘theory of mind’ test across 57 countries University of Cambridge · 26 December 2022

   “The results showed that across the 57 countries, females on average scored significantly higher than males (in 36 countries), or similar to males (in 21 countries), on the Eyes Test.”

2. Females perform better than males on a ‘theory of mind’ test across 57 countries University of Cambridge · 26 December 2022

   “Importantly, there was no country where males on average scored significantly higher than females on the Eyes Test.”

3. Females perform better than males on a ‘theory of mind’ test across 57 countries University of Cambridge · 26 December 2022

   “Greenberg, D. M., Warrier, V., Abu-Akel, A., Allison, C., Gajos, K. Z., Reinecke, K., Rentfrow, P. J., Radecki, M. A., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2022). Sex and age differences in ‘theory of mind’ across 57 countries using the English version of the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; 26 Dec 2022; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2022385119”

4. Females Outperform Males Across 57 Countries Bar-Ilan University · 24 January 2023

   “The research, led by Dr. David M. Greenberg of Cambridge University and Bar-Ilan University and recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), is the largest study of the theory of mind to date.”

Reasoning

The study exists: E3 shows a PNAS paper published on 26 December 2022 that lists Simon Baron-Cohen as an author and tests theory of mind with the 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' Test across 57 countries. E4 describes it as the largest theory-of-mind study to date. E1 and E2 report that females scored significantly higher than males in 36 countries and similarly in 21, with no country showing a significant male advantage. So the female advantage held in most countries but not in all of them, which the criteria list as an example of mostly true.

Cite this claim

Steven Pinker, “A new big-data study by a team including Simon Baron-Cohen found females on average outperform males on a 'theory of mind' test across 57 countries.” (said 27 December 2022). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_c49f736274c3, method 0.1.0+28da144b. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_c49f736274c3