Abstract
Studies of sex differences in general knowledge have produced conflicting results with some investigators reporting no difference and others reporting greater general knowledge in men. This study was designed to determine whether the a male advantage in general knowledge found among university students in Northern Ireland could be replicated among students in Germany. The general knowledge questionnaire consisting of 17 domains of general knowledge was administered to 88 men and 145 women students at the University of Lüneburg. The sex differences were closely similar in the two countries. Men had significantly and substantially greater general knowledge than women (d = 0.49 standard deviation units) in Germany and in Northern Ireland (d = 0.51). In both countries, the domains of general knowledge in which males achieved significantly and substantially higher scores were sport, finance, games, geography, history, science, discovery and exploration, and politics. There were no substantial or significant sex differences in the domains of popular music, classical music, art, film, medicine, and fashion. Females achieved a significantly and substantially higher score on knowledge of nutrition in Northern Ireland and a non-significantly higher score in Germany. The product-moment correlation between the magnitudes of the sex differences in the two countries is 0.84. The sex differences in knowledge could be interpreted in terms of evolutionary psychology as a function of men's greater interest in inter-male competition and women's greater interest in nurturing.
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