Study Compares IQ With Browser Choice 380
rennerik writes "A recent study of 100,000 people taking IQ tests compared the scores with which browser the person uses on a regular basis. On average, Internet Explorer users fared the worst, with IE6 users at the bottom of the pile and IE8 users performing slightly better. Firefox, Chrome and Safari fell in the middle with little difference between them. IE with Chrome Frame and Camino landed on top, along with Opera, whose users scored the highest"
Corrected for income? (Score:4, Interesting)
I read this a couple days ago (days ago? Come on /.) and I still don't know if they corrected for income.
Dumb people tend to end up poor. Poor people use older stuff because thats all they can afford.
Not thinking its insightful to learn that poor people have cruddier older hardware.
Also smarter people are more likely to admin their own computer, thus be permitted to upgrade... Not sure how or if they accounted for that.
Its possible, that above and beyond the effect of poverty or work I.T. configuration, dumb people do dumb things, but i dunno; that's a pretty cutting edge idea worthy of a Nobel.
Re:Flawed study. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:All of those studies are the same (Score:3, Interesting)
The last paragraph sums it up nicely.
Whatever the reason for these results, I wouldn't take them too seriously. They are, after all, comprised only of people who feel compelled to take IQ tests. But if you ever want to argue that Internet Explorer 6 users are too stupid to upgrade, at least now you've got some empirical evidence.
Re:All of those studies are the same (Score:4, Interesting)
[I for one, have no understanding of why the rest of the United States is so damn fond of watching 'football']
Do you understand why many geeks are so fond of chess? How about Starcraft? It's the same reason football is so popular. Believe it or not, these games have a whole lot in common. In each case Sun Tzu's Art of War can be used as a strategy guide. Football fans are no different than S. Korean Starcraft fans despite the vast differences in lifestyle.
People - men in particular - love simulating war.
Re:All of those studies are the same (Score:3, Interesting)
The reality is they have very little in common. Computer games are all largely participatory based, participation being largely driven by enjoying the game play. Jock strap games are largely spectator based, with spectator numbers largely driven by mass marketing (you know the crap, watch the "heroes", watch the ladies in revealing outfits, drink beer, drink more beer, drink even more beer and pretend your a hero out there on the field). The pretending for mass media jock strap games doesn't even stop there, barracking for a team somehow makes you a winner when they win, discussing the action on the field somehow makes you part of the "hero" action (beer drinking also helps this activity) and, watching jock strap douche sports shows somehow provides you with intellectual understanding (beer helps here too).
Hmm, it really seems the big difference between computer gaming and jock strap (well failed versions) spectator sports is beer. It seems beer in for drinkin' not for thinkin'.