Perceived Intelligence

Is intelligence all perception? An article by Joan Raymond (Newsweek Jan. 2008) refers to an interesting subject and starts with this paragraph:
"Are men smarter than women? No. But they sure think they are. An analysis of some 30 studies by British researcher Adrian Furnham, a professor of psychology at University College London, shows that men and women are fairly equal overall in terms of IQ. But women, it seems, underestimate their own candlepower (and that of women in general), while men overestimate theirs. Furnham talks to NEWSWEEK's Joan Raymond about his findings and why perceived IQ matters."
Here is the full article:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/101079?g=1
If you use your imagination, or recent memory for that matter, it's easy to see how this misperception can affect personal interaction between genders on a daily basis. Why would a person listen to another's opinions or ideas with real interest when the other's intelligence is assumed to be inferior? And how could a person ever prove their equality or even superiority if the assumption is that they are inferior? The stress of being treated as a lesser person would be enough to cause one to eventually react emotionally, thereby "proving" to the "superior" person that they were right all along. I could also add that a person who assumes superiority would not want to investigate the possibility that they may be wrong about their assumption... Happy Reading!