New research suggests that we have unfairly placed them on a pedestal when it comes to their intelligence.

“It’s not rocket science” or “You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to understand that…” They are flimsy statements, which assume that rocket scientists and brain surgeons are generally a lot more intelligent than the general population. But is that true?

Research

On this question, researchers from the University College London bent down. And their findings can be read in the Christmas edition of The British Medical Journal: an edition that is traditionally filled with real studies that have also undergone peer review, but have a playful undertone.

Painful

The research may be playful, but the conclusion must be somewhat painful for rocket scientists and brain surgeons. Because the research suggests that at least when it comes to their intelligence, they are unfairly placed on a pedestal.

The test

The researchers reached that conclusion after testing the intelligence of 329 aerospace engineers and 72 brain surgeons. A validated online test was used to test six different cognitive aspects, such as memory, concentration and problem-solving ability. The scores of the rocket scientists and brain surgeons were then compared with those of more than 18,000 ‘ordinary’ people. And so it became clear that rocket scientists did not score significantly better than ‘normal’ people in any area. The brain surgeon got off a little better; these appeared to be able to solve problems significantly faster. But on the other hand, brain surgeons are slower at retrieving memories.

“Most of the scores in the different domains were consistent for both groups (brain surgeons and rocket scientists, ed.) with the scores we saw in the general population,” the researchers concluded. “Both specialisms may therefore have been wrongly placed on a pedestal.”

Limits

The researchers acknowledge that their study does have some limitations. For example, only a limited number of brain surgeons and rocket scientists have been tested. In addition, the scientists and surgeons tested come from a relatively small geographic area. It cannot therefore be ruled out that more scientists and doctors from different parts of the world will boost the average scores a bit and that both professions have more intelligent members than this study suggests.

In addition, a saying such as ‘you don’t have to be a brain surgeon/missile scientist to…’ can of course refer to the alleged enormous intelligence of a brain surgeon or rocket scientist, but can also arise from the fact that his/her work is complex and /or the fact that he/she has to acquire a lot of knowledge and skills in order to practice his/her work. This study only looked at the alleged intelligence, which is a limitation, the researchers write. “Still, we believe our approach has value, because the public perception of these specialties may certainly be based in part on the apparent intelligence of their practitioners.”

And that apparent intelligence appears to be somewhat disappointing on the basis of this research. And that is why, according to the researchers, it is not a bad idea at all to replace sayings with brain surgeons and rocket sciences in them with an alternative saying with a similar meaning, in which no professions are discussed. “It’s also possible that there are other professions that deserve to be on that pedestal, and future research should focus on identifying which department is most deserving,” the scientists said. Suggestions?