[Taku]

Study reveals PlayStation users are smarter than Xbox users
But the PC Master Race still have the higher IQs
By Cal Jeffrey, 07 DEC 2020, 8:14 AM (via TechSpot)



In context: Royal Panda, a company that operates a Canadian online casino, recently conducted a study among 1,001 gamers tracking their intelligence across multiple platforms and several video games. Interestingly, the results showed PlayStation users to be smarter than Xbox players. Argue amongst yourselves.

Working with academic experts, Royal Panda developed a four-part quiz that measured verbal intelligence, logical reasoning, mathematical ability, and visual reasoning. Before taking the tests, administrators asked respondents to fill out a demographics questionnaire to determine their gaming, computing, and mobile preferences.

Among consoles, PlayStation 4 users were the smartest overall, with an average IQ of 110.7. Xbox One and Switch users averaged 103.8 and 101.3, respectively. However, out of all platforms, PC gamers, perhaps unsurprisingly, came out on top with an average IQ of 112.3. Mobile users were the lowest at 99.4.



As for game preferences, it seems players of military first-person shooters are among the best thinkers. Both Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege and Call of Duty Modern Warfare appear in the top five in intelligence (first and fourth). Among Us and Minecraft ranked second and third by IQ, and FIFA players rounded out the top five.

• Rainbow Six Siege — 120.3 IQ
• Among Us — 118.9 IQ
• Minecraft — 116.3 IQ
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare — 111.2 IQ
• FIFA — 106.5 IQ
• Fall Guys — 105.8 IQ
• Animal Crossing — 104.8 IQ
• Fortnite — 103.6 IQ
• The Sims — 103.6 IQ
• Mario Kart — 99.9 IQ
• Grand Theft Auto Online — 99.6 IQ
• Assassin's Creed — 99.6 IQ
• Rocket League — 99.3 IQ
• Candy Crush Saga — 96.4 IQ
• Angry Birds — 95.8 IQ

Mobile games Candy Crush and Angry Birds ranked the lowest with IQ scores of 96.4 and 95.8, respectively. Console/PC games GTA Online, Assassin's Creed, and Rocket League ranked slightly higher but still were the lowest scores on the list (99.6, 99.6, and 99.3, respectively).



Looking at the IQ levels of desktop and mobile preferences, Mac users (108.2) were slightly smarter than the Windows crowd (106.3), but iPhone owners (102.1) lagged eight points behind Android fans (110.3).



It also turns out that female gamers are smarter than males, but every non-single guy already knew that. Women averaged an IQ score of 108.4, while men ranked 102.3. They also came out on top in all four of the metrics.

[darthnovawave]

For anyone who may be concerned about their platform or game choice, 2 out of every 3 people worldwide have an IQ score between 85 and 115, with 100 being the average score for an IQ test. The differences in these results are pretty small, and likely have little to no meaningful practical implications. They also neglected to mention the amount of variability within each game/console group, which likely is far broader than the gaps between these groups (e.g., even though the group average for Angry Birds is low, there may be highly intelligent people playing the game).

Just thought I'd share since I'm an expert on workplace surveys and assessments in real life, including intelligence testing like this. A lot of times these kinds of articles can be pretty misleading and should be taken with a large grain of salt.

[Chris Wilkinson]

The one thing that I'd say, is that the sample size they've used of 1001 people, isn't particularly high. So their results are pretty poor in terms of a scientific point of view.

They've not broken down how many people play what type of console etc, so it could be they had a much smaller sample size for Xbox or Phone players and it was the less intelligent people that took part.

Overall, While it's an interesting idea and hypothesis, this casinos study is lacking. That's my two cents on it

[Aleaic]

Go Playstation 5, and get a 500 IQ score. new Sony ad ploy. :p

[darthnovawave]

The one thing that I'd say, is that the sample size they've used of 1001 people, isn't particularly high. So their results are pretty poor in terms of a scientific point of view.

They've not broken down how many people play what type of console etc, so it could be they had a much smaller sample size for Xbox or Phone players and it was the less intelligent people that took part.

Overall, While it's an interesting idea and hypothesis, this casinos study is lacking. That's my two cents on it

Great points. If the "professional psychologists" the source page mentions are any kind of good researchers, they would try to control for things like this. Given that the games and platforms mentioned here are all over the place, they probably are not good researchers, and this study is probably confounded with other factors that are known to relate to IQ.

For example, socioeconomic status is known to relate to IQ (e.g., rich people are more likely to have higher IQ scores). If we look at the lists, most people are likely to have a smartphone, so it makes sense that free mobile games and devices are associated with them have IQ scores closer to that 100 population average overall, and more expensive "luxury" platforms and games tended to fall towards the top of the IQ rankings.

There could be other factors at play here, like interests and motivations, vocation, diversity of the participants, etc. Similarly, we know nothing about the quality of the intelligence test used. In short, there are any number of holes that could be poked into this from different angles if one starts to go beyond the surface. Maybe there is an academic paper somewhere that goes along with this article that deals with these potential flaws in the study...or maybe it is just a fun little fluff article that shouldn't be read into.

[Three of Seven]

I think this is just a little study done for fun, rather than science, though it might be interesting to have a more scientific study. One thing is that the Switch and smartphones may have a much younger average audience, this could mean that some parts of the brain are yet to fully develop, such as processing logic.

I can't even remember my IQ, it was slightly above average, but I've lost braincells since then. IQ also isn't the same as actual intelligence. Also, fun maybe fact, cats have an IQ equivalent to a 2 year old human.

[Taku]

Also, fun maybe fact, cats have an IQ equivalent to a 2 year old human.

Actually they're much smarter than that but they refused to complete the entire test. They simply couldn't be bothered.

[aceman67]

What does the study say about someone who owns PC, PS4, Xbox, and Nintendo?

[Sul-Matuul]

I think this is just a little study done for fun, rather than science, though it might be interesting to have a more scientific study. One thing is that the Switch and smartphones may have a much younger average audience, this could mean that some parts of the brain are yet to fully develop, such as processing logic.

I can't even remember my IQ, it was slightly above average, but I've lost braincells since then. IQ also isn't the same as actual intelligence. Also, fun maybe fact, cats have an IQ equivalent to a 2 year old human.

This I what I was going to say.
Who owns what console/media device will affect the results quite a bit. Like you say many younger people have a smartphone, and possibly a Switch which are quite popular for families with young children.

[darthnovawave]

What does the study say about someone who owns PC, PS4, Xbox, and Nintendo?

Intelligence research would suggest someone who could afford them all is likely in a higher socioeconomic status level, and by extension is more likely to have a higher IQ.

[Sul-Matuul]

Intelligence research would suggest someone who could afford them all is likely in a higher socioeconomic status level, and by extension is more likely to have a higher IQ.

Or alternatively they are less sensible with their money.....so no sure what that says about their intelligence.

[darthnovawave]

Or alternatively they are less sensible with their money.....so no sure what that says about their intelligence.

Being "intelligent" doesn't necessarily mean you are "wise".

From a psychology standpoint, intelligence is basically an estimate of one's ability to solve generic problems quickly and accurately and learn new material quickly. It is not a measure of specific skills (e.g., basic home finances, accounting, etc.) or motivations (e.g., games more important than food, roof over head, etc.).

I should also point out that these are "general" research trends. There are always going to be oddballs out there with more money than brains and vice versa.